Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You
by Brian1
Summary: *All* of the survivors of Umbrella's T-Virus experiments decide to take down the company, once and for all. (Summary as of February 28th) (Important Author's Note added)
1. Prologue

Author's Note: This is my take on what happens after Resident Evil: Code Veronica. An old friend will come back soon. Mwaha. Also, there are extreme spoilers on what happened in Resident Evil: CV, so don't blame me if I ruined the entire game for you.  
  
This is the revised version of Chapter One. This is easily much better then the first version...  
  
  
  
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You....-  
-By Brian Marcelo-  
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-  
Rated R for violent situations, and um...romance situations.   
  
  
  
-Prologue-  
  
  
  
Chris and Claire Redfield had finally managed to escape from Umbrella's Antarctic facility, but not without facing some of the most horrifying monsters imaginable.  
  
Claire and Steven had dealt with Alfred Ashford, a crazy man who, to cope with his sister's "death", pretended to be her, even to the point of dressing up as her.   
  
Then there was Alexander Ashford, who was nicknamed named Nosferatu by the local workers at the Antarctic facility. Alexander had been betrayed by his own "children" and had been intentionally infected with the T-Veronica virus, therefore making him into a huge gray-skinned humanoid figure, with tentacles flowing out of his back which had the ability to secrete a special kind of poison not treatable by the blue herb.  
  
To Claire's horror, Steve had been taken away by Alexia and had been injected with the T-Veronica virus. Once Claire found him, she was shocked to see him turn into a huge green monster, ready to kill her with his newfound axe. Claire ran as far as she could from Steve as he swung his axe at her. She managed to escape him temporaily before being caught by Alexia's tentacle. The tentacle held Claire in place as Steve was ready to decapitate her. Steven managed to regain control of himself and instead, cut off Alexia's tentacle that was holding Claire. It released Claire and then rammed Steven heavily into a wall before retracting where it had come from. Claire raced to Steven's side and tried to help him, but to no avail. He reverted to his human state as he was slowly dying, telling Claire that he loved her. After saying those words, he died, not letting Claire have a chance to tell him anything in return.   
  
Finallly, Chris faced off against Alexia Ashford, who had acquired unbelievable powers after injecting herself with the T-Veronica virus and then putting her body in cold storage so her body could adapt to the virus. It was a truly fierce battle but Chris managed to prevail, using the Linear Launcher to dispatch of Alexia, in similiar fashion to when he had used a rocket launcher against the very first Tyrant.  
  
Claire managed to bump into Albert Wesker, the former head of S.T.A.R.S, during her brother's battle with Alexia and is easily put in to a headlock by him, seeing as how he has super strength thanks to his super virus. Chris manages to find Wesker holding his sister hostage, and chases after them through a long zombie infested hallway. He follows Wesker to a docked submarine and demanded his sister to be returned to him. Wesker complies and let's Claire go. He then proceeds to tell Chris and Claire that his job to capture a sample of the T-Veronica is done, and all he needs to do now is get revenge on Chris for ruining his master plan. Chris states that Alexia is gone, but Wesker reveals that he stole Steve's body to get a sample of the virus instead. Claire angrily tries to attack Wesker but is held back by Chris, who wants to fight Wesker instead. Claire understands and escapes to the jet plane, while Chris and Wesker fought hand to hand. With the facility about to be destroyed by the self destruct system, they had to call it a draw. Chris managed to escape the explosion in the nick of time, and he and his sister Claire flew away with a jet, vowing to take down Umbrella one and for all.  
  
Afterall, it was time for some pay back after all the horrors that had been through.  
  
However, Chris and Claire needed some help...  
  
  
  
-Chapter One-  
  
  
  
-January 1st, 1999. On their way to Paris, France via commercial airplane-  
  
  
  
"Chris? Wake up Chris..." Claire quietly said, with a hint of urgency in her voice.  
  
"Wha..what is it..?" Chris said, yawning as he started to wake up.  
  
"We're almost there...." she said softly.  
  
"Claire...? Is there something wrong...? We're just going to meet up with Jill and the others...you sound...sad though.." said Chris, showing his brotherly concern.  
  
"No...nothing's wrong Chris...I'm just...a little tired...that's all..." she replied, as a small smile appeared on her lips.  
  
"Ahh, well...you should get some rest..." he said while smiling back at his sister.  
  
'I know you're lying sis...you always do that certain smile when you lie....but why now? You were never one to want to get me worked up about anything, so I guess I'll have to wait and see why...' Chris thought to himself as he kept smiling at his sister, as to not arouse suspicion.  
  
'Good...he doesn't suspect a thing..' Claire thought to herself as she returned her brother's smile, also hoping not to make her brother suspicious.  
  
"So who are we meeting up with again?" said Claire, wanting to chang the subject.  
  
"Jill, Barry, Rebecca, Leon, and this guy named Carlos...." replied Chris, as he wondered how Jill met Carlos, although he wasn't quite sure why he was pondering about it in the first place. After all, he had helped her a vaccine when she had been infected by the Nemesis, and he had helped her escape Raccoon City along with Barry Burton.  
  
"After all," he though to himself, "she had to find all the help she could get..."   
  
He couldn't quite shake the feeling of being a little jealous though...which was starting to really confuse the hell out of him. Chris had always looked at Jill Valentine as his partner, but every now and then he couldn't help glancing at her when they were in their office, alone together, doing tedious paperwork.  
  
"Ahhh...hey...what do you think we're gonna do when we get there...?" asked Claire as she interrupted his thoughts.  
  
"I'm not really sure...I guess we'll be making some type of plan to inflitrate Umbrella's Paris Facility, which also is their main headquarters." replied Chris.  
  
Claire cringed as she remembered how she was chased by a chain gun toting helicopter when she was caught inflitrating the base a few weeks ago.  
  
"Um...we'll be better prepared then I was, right?" she asked nervously, not wanting to be chased around by a helicopter that had a chaingun attached to it.  
  
"Of course sis, we won't be going in recklessly like you did with all those bullets flying around and various explosives being detonated." Chris jokingly answered.  
  
"It's not funny! Let's see you being chased by a helicopter!" she retorted.  
  
"If I had done it, I would've been in and out of the building before anyone even noticed, sis." he answered a-matter-of-factly.  
  
"Grr..." she growled as she gave him a light punch to his arm.  
  
"Anyways, you and I should get some sleep before the plane lands, alright?" he said, yawning as he stretched and went back to sleeping.  
  
"Kay..." said Claire, as she ackwardly tried going back to sleep. However, with all that she had been through the last few days, it had been hard to get any sleep at all.  
  
She was missing Steve so very much. They only knew each other for about two days, but during those two days they had been through so much. It was different then when she had been stuck with Leon S. Kennedy at Raccoon City, because for the majority of their stay there, they had split up and tried to find any survivors left and an escape route out of the city. Plus, Leon had Ada Wong with him, who Leon later fell in love with. Also, Claire had to take care of Sherry Birkin, so she was forced to be more like a mom then pursue any type of intimacy.   
  
It was different with Steve, because Steven and Claire didn't have to worry about finding any survivors, so they did a lot of work together, solving intricate puzzles strewn about the island by Alfred Ashford and shooting any zombies and other, more horrifying monsters, that were in their way. It really meant a lot to Claire that Steve let himself open up to her, especially after he had to kill his undead father from hurting Claire.  
  
Claire just couldn't get any sleep knowing that Steve had not only died, but was stolen by Wesker and taken away to his new employers, who no doubt were trying to extract T-Veronica virus samples from him. She was crushed that she couldn't save him, especially after all those tense moments where she had been saved by him. She was especially saddened since he loved her...  
  
And she didn't get a chance to tell him how she felt.  
  
"Did I..I mean...do I love him back...? We were close...but...do I...love him back...?" Claire whispered quietly to herself.  
  
Another thing that kept her up for many nights was Wesker had said to her....that Steve might come back to life one day, just like how Wesker did...  
  
"Come on Claire...just try to get some rest...at least he'll live on in your fond memories of him...." she said to herself quietly as she closed her eyes and fell asleep, thinking about what she would've said to Steve...  
  
  
  
-End of Chapter One-  
  
  
  
This is the revised Chapter One, which has extra things in it and...yeah. 


	2. Startling Revelation

Author's Note: This is my take on what happens after Resident Evil: Code Veronica. An old friend will come back soon. Mwaha. Also, there are extreme spoilers on what happened in Resident Evil: CV, so don't blame me if I ruined the entire game for you.  
  
This is the revised chapter two, which is slightly different compared to the first version.  
  
  
  
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You....-  
-By Brian Marcelo-  
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-  
Rated R.  
  
  
  
-Startling Revelation-  
-Chapter Two-  
  
  
  
-The airport in Paris, France-  
  
  
  
"Mr. and Mrs. Redfield, the plane has landed, you can wake up now." the flight attendant said kindly.  
  
"Oh...um, thank you ma'am..." said Claire as she started to wake up her brother, who was still sleeping.  
  
"Wha? Oh, the plane's landed now?" said Chris, once again groggy from being woken up from a rather pleasant dream with Jill in it.  
  
Claire nodded and then punched her brother lightly on the arm. "Grr, I hate having to wake up you all the time...."  
  
"Well it's not like I'm excited by you waking me up so early everyday." he replied, shaking his head as he tried to shake his groggy feeling. "Sides, I was having such a pleasant dream too..."  
  
"Tee-hee, you two make quite a lovely married couple," said the flight attendant, as she was still standing there, watching them argue. "It's so cute when couples argue, tee-hee.."  
  
Chris and Claire merely stared at the flight attendant, who had a big grin on her face.  
  
"What?" said the flight attendant innocently.  
  
"We're not a couple! We're brother AND sister!" Chris and Claire said angrily in unison.  
  
The flight attendant blushed furiously. "I'm so terribly sorry...tee-hee, it's just that you two acted like one during the duration of the flight and I just assumed..."  
  
Chris and Claire looked at each other after what the flight attendant said and they both said at the same time, "Let's try to forget what the hell just happened...."  
  
  
  
-Meanwhile, at a research facility close to Paris...-  
  
  
  
"Are there enough samples of the T-Veronica virus left in Steve Burnside's body?" asked Albert Wesker, as he was examining Steve's body, which was perserved quite nicely and was set on a operation table.  
  
"Actually, there is so much T-Veronica virus in him that it's...well..it's..." said one of the scientists in the room, who seemed very excited and surprised. He was probably one of the younger scientists that had been recruited into HCF seeing as he in his mid-twenties.  
  
"It's what?" he said, sounding quite annoyed while he was tilting his sunglasses over Steve's body. "What is it doing to him?"  
  
Wesker looked a little closer and noticed something definitely odd.   
  
"Why does he look like he's...breathing...?" Wesker asked in surprise.  
  
"It's remarkable...the reason he's breathing...is because the T-Veronica virus is actually repairing his body! He was indeed dead when you brought him here, but apparently the T-Veronica virus suddenly started reacting to his unique blood type and is somehow repairing him. In fact, he'll be revived in a little less than a week if our calculations are correct!" said another scientist who appeared much older then the first scientist but was equally excited.  
  
"Amazing." replied Albert Wesker, who couldn't really put how he felt into words. Afterall, it appeared to everyone, even to himself, that the virus needed to take 15 years to be actually useful. The evidence of this had been especially evident in what happened to Alexander Ashford, who had been turned into a mindless, dangerous, hulking monstrosity, and Alexia Ashford, who put herself into cold storage after predicting that it would take 15 years for the virus to be able to adapt and coexist with a lifeform.  
  
"I suppose Alexia was wrong...it appears that the virus does different things depending on the blood type. Alexander and Alexia both had Ashford blood flowing through their veins, and ended up becoming powerful creatures...however, it seems that the T-Veronica virus is reviving Steve even after he died." said Wesker, in an almost casual manner.   
  
The reason he sounded casual about the rather startling revelation was because he had injected himself with a virus that he had aquired from William Birkin, which had allowed him to come back from the dead as well, even though he had been impaled on the claw of the first Tyrant. Another reason was that his virus, that he kept secret from Umbrella and HCF, was much more stable then the T-Veronica virus as well as letting him keep his human form and his above average intellingence.   
  
However, it didn't make him as powerful as Alexia was, which was especially evident in their fight where he had punched her using his super human strength and his quick agility, only to be backhanded by her and sent flying across the room. She was indeed much more powerful then he was, so he let one of his former S.T.A.R.S. teammate Chris Redfield deal with Alexia while he fled. It made him pissed off when he later found out that Chris had easily dispatched Alexia Ashford with only his magnum, while Wesker had been beaten up pretty badly by her.  
  
"However, the T-Veronica virus is still not quite stable, so take some samples and experiment with them, will you?" said Wesker as he started to leave the room.  
  
"Yes sir, we'll do the best we can to try to stablize it. And don't worry sir, we'll keep the samples in a secure place to prevent a biohazard!" replied the younger scientist, who was quite amazed at the whole thing.  
  
Wesker felt uneasy trusting the T-Veronica virus with them, especially since it seemed like outbreaks would always happen with every virus, but since this was his new workplace, he had high hopes that they would be much more competent then Umbrella was at handling dangerous viruses.  
  
"Perhaps...what I said to little Claire might come true afterall." said Wesker with an evil grin. "I shall get my revenge afterall..."  
  
  
  
-Back at the Paris Airport-  
  
  
  
"Chris!" yelled out an excited Jill as she ran up to Chris and hugged him. "It's been such a long time since I've seen you!"  
  
"You're a sight for sore eyes...Jill..." he replied while hugging her tightly, missing her dearly, especially since he had not seen in her so long.  
  
"Claire...it's so nice to see you again." said Leon as he shook Claire's hand a bit awkardly.  
  
"It's nice to see you again too...how's your new job working out?" asked Claire, who once again seemed sad.  
  
"It's pretty good...uh...how have you been?" asked Leon as he put his hand around her shoulder, which was out of character for the young cop.  
  
"Um...I'm okay, Leon..." she said, awkwardly putting her arm around Leon, "How have you been..?"  
  
"Good, really good now that you're here..." he whispered softly to her while smiling brightly at her.  
  
She blushed. Did Leon S. Kennedy, a clean-as-a-whistle cop, just say that to her?  
  
"Um...thanks..." she said, accidently making it look like she didn't care about what he had just said to her, when in truth, she was quite flattered.  
  
Leon's smiled faded a bit, with a hint of hurt in his expression.  
  
"Say, how's Sherry?" asked Leon, who tried to cover his hurt by changing the subject.  
  
"She's fine, I think. I had to leave her home alone, but I'm sure she'll manage just fine." said Claire with a smile, as she thought about how nice to would be to be back home and be with Sherry, who had grown to be a sort of sister/daughter to Claire.  
  
"That's great...I can't wait to see Sherry, I miss the little girl. Heh...we better get to the hotel...I think Barry might be getting tired of babysitting Rebecca and Carlos." said Leon jokingly.  
  
"Good idea, let's get there as soon as I can, I haven't seen Barry and Rebecca for a long time...and I'm anxious to meet this Carlos guy." said Chris as he picked up his bags.  
  
"Carlos is a great guy, I'm sure you'll grow to like him." Jill replied while smiling, "He's a little flirty, but he's still a great guy. Heh, he's just like you almost, Chris! I bet in no time at all, you two will be best buddies!"  
  
"I'm sure we will..." mumbled Chris wearily.  
  
The four of them started walking towards the car which was in the parking lot, all anxious to meet up with the last three members of their group so they could plot Umbrella's demise.  
  
  
  
-End of Chapter Two-  
  
  
  
This is the revised Chapter Two, which mentions Sherry, as opposed to the original version, which mentioned her a little less. Also, this allows the reader to believe that "Sweet, Tender Release" could indeed be the alternate beginning to "Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You..." especially since in the first version, Sherry is with Leon, as opposed to this newer version, where Sherry is alone in Claire's house. 


	3. Gathering Up The Team

Author's Note: This is my take on what happens after Resident Evil: Code Veronica. An old friend will come back soon. Mwaha. Also, there are extreme spoilers on what happened in Resident Evil: CV, so don't blame me if I ruined the entire game for you.  
  
This is the revised version of Chapter Three, complete with added scenes and dialogue. Enjoy...  
  
  
  
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You....-  
-By Brian Marcelo-  
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-  
Rated R.  
  
  
  
-Gathering Up The Team-  
-Chapter Three-  
  
  
  
-A hotel in Paris, France-  
  
  
  
"Alright, Barry, you'll be in charge of the fire arms, since you're the biggest gun nut around here." said Chris, quickly realizing he made a bad mistake when saying "gun nut".  
  
"Ahem." said Barry, as he mockingly pointed his gun at him. Barry Burton may have had models of guns, as well as wide experience in guns, but he had a thing about being called a "gun nut".  
  
"I mean...um...gun enthuasiast! Yes, that's right...gun enthuasiast. Now put the gun down, Barry?" said Chris jokingly.  
  
"That's better." said Barry, smirking as he put his gun back into one of his many holsters.  
  
Jill laughed with bits of happiness in her voice. She hadn't seen Chris and Barry joke around like that in such a long time it seemed. It had only been three months, but in those three months she longed for their company. It wasn't like being with Carlos was bad, it's just that she...missed Chris...  
  
"Hey you two, why don't you try to get to know the others a little better before planning any life threatening plans, okay?" suggested Rebecca cheerfully.  
  
The hotel room was alive with chatter as Claire was introduced to the gun-loving S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team member Barry Burton, the very young medic for the S.T.A.R.S. Bravo team Rebecca Chambers, and ex-UBCS mercernary Carlos Oliviera, who had helped Jill Valentine escape her hunter, the Nemesis, as well as Raccoon City when it became the target of a nuclear warhead.  
  
Of course, Claire had recognized Barry and Rebecca from S.T.A.R.S. group pictures that Chris had sent Claire before the Spencer Mansion incident, but she had never met them up close before.   
  
She noticed that Barry looked like he put on some weight and grew his beard a bit longer, while Rebecca exerted a more professional and mature aura around herself, as well as no longer showing endless amounts of child-like behavior and mannerisms. Rebecca's eyes though, looked almost sad, but Claire decided not to dwell on that; after all, she had just met Rebecca and didn't want to seem rude to her.  
  
"Hello there...." said Carlos softly, as he took Claire's hand and gently kissed it, "It looks like all the girls from S.T.A.R.S. or at least, girls related to S.T.A.R.S. members, are quite beautiful..."  
  
"Errr....thanks....I guess...." said Claire as she took back her hand quickly and rolled her eyes.  
  
Nobody in the room noticed, but Leon looked at Carlos with a hint of jealousy as he saw that even Carlos got to kiss her before he did.  
  
Jill giggled a bit at the silly sight made by Carlos before being taken aside by Chris.  
  
"Um, yes Chris? What is it?" she said, slightly worried, as Chris wasn't the type to take someone aside usually.  
  
"How did you ever manage to survive through a city crawling with zombies with this corny guy?" asked Chris in a serious tone.  
  
Jill simply laughed, thinking Chris was being silly, and said, "It must've been the accent...or the UBCS standard sub-machine gun...hehe..."  
  
Chris simply frowned and walked away, grumbling and mumbling about how he could probably take out Carlos in a fight, if he wanted to. Jill, confused at what had just happend, shrugged and went back to the group, filling everyone in and what had happened when she was trying to escape from Raccoon City.  
  
  
  
-Meanwhile, in a limo with a HCF insigna on it...-  
  
  
  
"As soon as Steve is revived, what shall I do with him?" said Wesker aloud, as if someone was in the back of the limo with him.  
  
"Perhaps I'll drag him by his head and hold him in front of Claire, then crush her heart by ripping his head off?" he said to himself, slightly grinning.  
  
"Or, I could beat the hell out of him, then lure Claire into an ambush with Steve as bait, and then when Chris comes to save Claire and Steve, I'll beat both Claire and Steve to a bloody death, right in front of Chris, and with just my fists..." he said, as he cracked his knuckles.   
  
"It would be so nice to hear Claire scream...begging me to stop...it'll make my revenge against the Redfield's all the more sweeter if Chris was there, not able to do anything, as his sister was defenseless, being slowly killed by her brother's ex-leader..." he said quietly to himself, savoring the thought.  
  
"I suppose I'll have to make it seem like Steve is alive so...when he wakes up, I'll chain him up and show him to Claire. Then she will follow me straight into HCF and then, she'll get to see Steve...heh...oh yes, she'll get to see Steve indeed...."  
he said, laughing softly, as though this was the best idea he had thought of the whole night.  
  
  
  
-End of Chapter Three-  
  
  
  
This is the revised chapter three...  
  
Don't worry, Chapter 4 is actually coming out soon! I just needed to post this quickly cause I've made too many of my great fans wait so damn long. Don't worry, Chapter Four is coming out soon!   
  
Also, in Chapter Four, I'll reveal why Albert Wesker didn't tell HCF about his secret virus that kept him alive when the Tyrant killed him... 


	4. Thoughts And Dreams At Night

Author's Note: This is my take on what happens after Resident Evil: Code Veronica. An old friend will come back soon. Mwaha. Also, there are extreme spoilers on what happened in Resident Evil: CV, so don't blame me if I ruined the entire game for you.  
  
This is the revised version of chapter four, complete with new dialogue and new parts.  
  
  
  
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You....-  
-By Brian Marcelo-  
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-  
Rated R.  
  
  
  
-Thoughts And Dreams At Night-  
-Chapter Four-  
  
  
  
-The Hotel in Paris, France-  
-Leon and Rebecca's Room-  
  
  
  
Leon Kennedy sighed as he looked at the digital clock in his room. It was already 12:00 at night, and still, he was unable to get sleep.   
  
"Why can't I get any sleep...?" Leon said aloud quietly, as to not disturb Rebecca, who was sleeping in her own bed a distance away from his.   
  
Each person had to share a room with another person, since they had to save up money to buy more supplies such as ammo and weapons. Unforunately for him, Claire was already sharing a room with her brother Chris, while Jill and Carlos shared another one. Barry was the type of person that would rather just stay alone in his room, so that he could think about his wife in private.  
  
Since they didn't want to attract too much suspicion, they had to act as if they were a big friendly group type thing that were all traveling to Paris. Claire and Chris, naturally, were the sister and brother part of the family. Jill and Carlos made it look like they were a couple, which erked Chris as they were doing it remarkably well. Barry Burton pretended to be well, the big strong type of guy that had a thing for hanging out with people like them. At Rebecca's suggestion, she and Leon pretended to be a couple as well. This not only confused Leon, seeing as how they didn't know each other well, but it also was a bit flattering. Perhaps Rebecca had taken a liking to the young cop?  
  
However, to his dismay, Claire said casually that they would make a cute couple.  
  
"I hope I don't wake up Rebecca, because it sounds like she's having a nice, pleasant dream." he said, a bit envious of his friend, who was making what sounded like small, muffled noises of happiness...  
  
"Cute..right..." he said to himself as sighing, "Why can't Claire see that I've fallen in love with her...?"  
  
"Maybe she thinks I still in love with Ada...? Or maybe she's interested in that Carlos guy...?"  
  
"I do..miss Ada...but Claire...I feel something different for Claire then I did for Ada..."  
  
"Maybe it's her charming nature...? Or her ability to kick ass and look pretty at the same time...?"  
  
"Maybe...maybe...it's that Steve guy that's distracting her from me...? They did...stay together a lot of the time..." he said, sighing as he felt inadequate as well as guilty.  
  
"Claire and myself stayed together a lot but...I guess, they stayed together much longer though..."  
  
He sighed heavily as he shifted his position on the bed and tried getting back to sleep.  
  
  
  
-HCF Lab-  
-Paris, France-  
  
  
  
"Remarkable..." said the younger scientist in awe, as he examined Steve's quickly regenerating body.   
  
It was indeed a sight to behold, as Steve Burnside was coming back from the dead, his skin turning slowly from a pale white to a brown color color, indicting that his blood was starting to flow more freely now.  
  
"Isn't it? I do believe that he'll be up even sooner then we imagined. We won't even have to wait a week, as by the looks of it, he'll be waking up anytime now...I can't wait to study him more after that happens!" said the older scientist, as he was looking at charts and graphs, which detailed Steve's health and what parts of him were being revived and such.  
  
"I should make a call to Albert Wesker, as Steve Burnside should be waking up at any moment now!" said the younger scientist, as he hurriedly left the lab area and went to call Wesker from his office.  
  
  
  
-At a fancy hotel in Paris, France-  
-Albert Wesker's room-  
  
  
  
"How do you like being tied up in a chair with metal chains, Claire Redfield?" said Wesker, as he softly laughed at Claire, as she struggled to get out.  
  
He smirked as he smacked Claire for the third time, making her face very puffy and red, with blood dribbling out of her mouth.  
  
"Scream for me, Claire Redfield." he said coldly to her, as he lifted her chin up with his black-gloved hand.  
  
She shook her head meekly, which resulted in another hard smack.  
  
"Scream for me, you little bitch." he said once again, as he admired the work he had done on her face.  
  
"Please...please let me go...Chris...please come find me..." said Claire softly, as she started to cry.  
  
"You little bitch! Your brother won't stop me, not this time!" roared Wesker as he punched her straight in the face, which quickly resulted in a black eye.  
  
She looked up at him, with a mix of pain and fear in her expression.  
  
"Why...?"  
  
"Why what?" he replied coldly.  
  
"Why did you have to take away Steve...? You...you.. could've just given them... a sample of your virus that makes you so ...unhumanly strong..." she said, stuttering, not sure how he'd react.  
  
"Because, you fool...the only sample of the virus left is in my body. If they tried to extract it with a tube or anything, it would simply become unusable. I do not intend to be the one being poked and prodded as they try to find some way to extract a sample of the virus which my body contains..." he said, as if it was quite obvious, "Besides, I am quite happy to see you in such pain, all because your little boyfriend is being dissected right now..."  
  
Claire started sobbing again the mention of what HCF might be doing with Steve. Wesker merely laughed and smacked her again, resulting in her coughing up blood.  
  
"Please...no more...." cried Claire, as her sobbing intensified, "God...please no more...."  
  
"You want more, huh?" he said, sneering at her as he starting to beat her more, causing her to cough out more blood...  
  
"Please...please...please..." sobbed Claire, as she was coughing out blood and crying her eyes out...  
  
*ring!*   
  
*ring!*  
  
*ring!*  
  
"What the hell is that...?" said Wesker groggily, realizing that he was waking up, "Damn..it was only a dream..."  
  
He sighed a bit. He was really starting to enjoy beating up the sister of his arch-enemy...  
  
As he reached for his phone, he hoped to himself that he would continue with the dream after he dealed with whoever was on the phone.  
  
"What is it? Why the hell are you calling so late at this hour?" he shouted, still groggy from waking up from such a nice dream.  
  
"Sorry sir, but I just wanted to tell you that Steve Burnside should be waking up anytime now! It seems that our calculations of him waking up in a week were wrong! Isn't that great?" said the young scientist excitedly.  
  
"Well well...this is certainly news worth being waked up for..." said Wesker, quite pleased that he would be able to exact his plan for revenge on the Redfields even faster then he thought...  
  
  
  
-End of Chapter Four-  
  
  
  
This is the revised version of Chapter Four...  
  
Be on the look out for Chapter Five, which is coming soon... 


	5. The Revival

Author's Note: This is my take on what happens after Resident Evil: Code Veronica. An old friend will come back soon. Mwaha. Also, there are extreme spoilers on what happened in Resident Evil: CV, so don't blame me if I ruined the entire game for you.  
  
  
  
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -  
-By Brian Marcelo-  
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-  
Rated R.  
  
  
  
-The Revival-  
-Chapter Five-  
  
  
  
-In the Redfields' room-  
  
  
  
Claire Redfield, like her close friend Leon Kennedy, wasn't having any luck getting to sleep either.  
  
She started looking at the ceiling, hoping to find some significant sign from a higher being of some sorts.  
  
As expected, she found nothing of interest, except the fact that the ceiling was nicely decorated.  
  
Turning over to the right, she looked at her digital clock, which now read 1:00 AM.  
  
"I need sleep...we have a long day ahead of us..." she said to herself quietly, hoping not to wake her brother, who was sleeping soundly in his own bed.  
  
"I wonder why Leon was acting so oddly around me..." she said, wondering what was wrong with her friend, who she had met at Raccoon City months ago, "It has been a long time since I had seen him...I sure did miss him...and his optimism...I bet he would look nice if he was really happy..."  
  
"Steve looked really nice when he was happy..." she said suddenly, not knowing that she was saying that till it all came out.  
  
"I just...I just can't stop thinking about Steve..." she said to herself sadly, as she turned to the right, "Even when he was turned into a monster...he...he...saved me from Alexia Ashford's deadly grasp...he turned against his monster instincts to kill and helped me..."  
  
"He died to save me..." she said softly to herself.  
  
"I miss you Steve...hopefully, we'll meet again...at least...in my dreams..." she said, with tears softly trailing down her cheeks as she quietly went to sleep, hoping to dream sweet dreams...  
  
  
  
-HCF Lab-  
  
  
  
"It looks like Mr. Burnside will be waking up now." said the older scientist, who was now trying to keep his excitement to a minimum.  
  
"Yes, it appears so..." replied Wesker, as he tilted his dark sunglasses to look at Steve.  
  
Wesker was interested to see this, because even though he had been brought back to life by William Birkin's virus that he applied to himself before being impaled by the first Tyrant, he didn't get a chance to see what happened during the revival process.  
  
It was beginning...   
  
Steve Burnside, who was killed by Alexia Ashford after regaining his humanity and then turning against Alexia, was about to return to the world of the living...  
  
His pale skin started to become brown, signaling that his blood was now flowing normally throughout his body...  
  
His chest started to move up and down slowly, indicating that his lungs were at the moment, filling up with air, and breathing in and out after such a long period of inactivity...  
  
Steve slowly started to stir, trying slowly to move his arms and legs...  
  
His eyes opened slowly, squinting at the light, which was emanating from the ceiling...  
  
Steve Burnside was back...  
  
"How does it feel to be alive once again, Mr. Burnside?" asked Wesker in a monotone voice.  
  
"Claire...where's...Claire...?" he began to ask, extremely disoriented.  
  
"In Paris, where we also happen to be." replied Wesker.  
  
"You, my friend, are going to help me find out exactly where she is though..." he said, looking at Steve coldly in the eyes.  
  
Just then Steven looked like he was frightened, but not by Wesker.  
  
Something else...  
  
"...the...the...the Queen...she's...returning...the Queen...she's...." he said out of nowhere, very quietly, as if he was afraid...as if, someone was hearing him...  
  
Wesker, a bit shaken by what Steve was mumbling about, asked him, "What did you say...?"  
  
"The...queen is...returning..." said a frightened Steve, before collapsing, tired from the exhausting process of being revived from the dead.  
  
"The queen...? Who is...the queen...?" said the younger scientist, totally confused.  
  
"The queen...how could she still be alive...?" Wesker simply said coldly, while clenching his teeth...  
  
  
  
-End of Chapter Five-  
  
  
  
The Queen shall return and judge those who dare oppose her...  
  
She shall judge the living...by using the dead... 


	6. Familiar Faces

Author's Note: This is my take on what happens after Resident Evil: Code Veronica. An old friend will come back soon. Mwaha. Also, there are extreme spoilers on what happened in Resident Evil: CV, so don't blame me if I ruined the entire game for you.  
  
Author's Additional Note: I am working harder then ever on this multi-chaptered story, as this is my best work yet. Expect many chapters with a lot of action, suspense, and more...just more. I am going to make this the best I can, for all of you that read this. I promise you...you won't be disappointed with the end result. I even outlined the whole story, and I plan to follow every part of the outline, no matter how difficult it may be to put it on paper (or Notepad). I can't reveal the whole outline I have all written out, as it spoils a lot of the upcoming chapters, but let me just say that you'll love it.  
  
Also, this is slightly revised...  
  
  
  
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -  
-By Brian Marcelo-  
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-  
Rated R.  
  
  
  
-Familiar Faces-  
-Chapter Six-  
  
  
  
-HCF Paris Facility-  
  
  
  
Walking calmly through a long corridor to her office, an Asian woman in her mid to early twenties casually opened the door to her rather small office, which was sparsely decorated, with only a desk, table, and a shelf as the only furniture in there.  
  
She went in and sat in her chair, shifting through various paperwork and such on her cluttered desk.  
  
She smirked a little as she found the file she was looking for, which was a folder with the name "Ada Wong" on it. The mysterious figure opened up the folder, to see a complete profile of Ada Wong, as well as something else:  
  
A small red stamp mark, which had the words "Previously Deceased, Currently Undergoing Testing".  
  
Her smirk grew even larger as she read the cause of death: "Killed during the Raccoon City Project".  
  
Under it, there was a special note.   
  
"Although agent 012 (Ada Wong) was medically dead when agent 034 (Albert Wesker) had found her, she was brought back to life using an experimental drug that had been developed by William Birkin and then later stolen. Seeing as how Ada Wong is a high ranking agent in our company, as well as having seen Umbrella's B.O.W. monsters, she was chosen to be the first person to actually be revived using the drug. Ada Wong was revived, however, she is undergoing testing at the moment to try and see if our scientists can extract a sample of the virus we have entitled the 'Miracle' virus.  
  
We would also like to note that her pupils have changed color to a yellow, probably a side effect of the 'Miracle' virus."  
  
The woman let out a small laugh, amused by her own file, which she read every now and then for her own personal amusement.  
  
*ring!*  
  
"Mm...who could be calling?" she asked herself, as she picked up her cell phone.  
  
"Ada...get to my office right now. It's important. Wesker out." said Wesker gruffly, as he immediately hung up the phone.  
  
"Geez...I wonder what's up with him..." she thought to herself, as she put her phone back in it's holster, and, still laughing a little bit, put her file in a cabinet of her desk for later viewing, she got up from her chair, and left her office.  
  
  
  
-Umbrella Paris Facility-  
  
  
  
"We have received reports that HCF has some how obtained a new virus called the 'T-Veronica'. Based on reports I've gotten, it seems to be similar to the 'G-Virus', which I had obtained personally during the Raccoon City incident." said another mysterious figure to the president of Umbrella Paris.  
  
"Well, Agent Hunk, what do you suggest we do then?" asked the President of Umbrella.  
  
"Well, sir, I request that you send me along with a heavily armed swat team to infiltrate HCF and take the all the 'T-Veronica' virus samples they have." replied Agent Hunk.  
  
"Didn't you say the 'G-Virus' that we have is similar to the 'T-Veronica' virus that HCF has? If that's the case, why bother getting something we already have in a way? William Birkin was a genius scientist, and although Alexia was also a genius, she never detailed what the 'T-Veronica' virus did; we could onluy Also, there is no doubt that HCF has secured the virus in the tightest security they have, especially since they once again have another sample of a virus that rivals ours...it would be quite risky though, to send a team to get the virus..." said the President, as he thought about Hunk's suggestion.  
  
"Sir...the 'T-Veronica' is still quite an important virus, that rightfully belongs to Umbrella, seeing as how the Ashfords, who helped found Umbrella, are the ones who engineered it..." replied Hunk.  
  
"Agent Hunk, even though I respect the Ashfords' contribution to Umbrella, I am going to have to deny your request. HCF is heavily defended, and I am in no mood to lose one of my best agent in a mission that will no doubt get him killed for just a simple virus like that...." said the president, who didn't like the idea at all.  
  
"But sir.." said Hunk, who attempted to reason with the President.  
  
"You are dismissed, Agent Hunk.." said the President simply, as he turned his chair the other way so that he could look out his window.  
  
"Yes sir..." replied Hunk wearily, as he left the room in a huff.  
  
"Dammit...he's so goddamn stubborn..." Hunk said to himself, as he started to light a cigarette. Hunk thought he had a right to be pissed...after all, he was Mr. Death. He always survived every mission given to him, and usually, every mission he was sent on were suicide missions were the death rates were high.   
  
Hunk thought that he could even go to HCF all by himself, but decided to suggest sending himself as well as a team when talking to the President of Umbrella, as to not make himself seem like a crazy son of a bitch that just wanted to get himself killed.  
  
He angrily inhaled some stress relieving nicotine smoke as he went back to his office, to await further commands...  
  
  
  
-End of Chapter Six-  
  
  
  
Be on the lookout, chapter seven is coming sooner then you think...  
  
The Queen is coming...she shall rule over all...no one shall stop her... 


	7. Hoping For The Best

Author's Note: This is my take on what happens after Resident Evil: Code Veronica. An old enemy will be coming back very soon. Mwahahaha....   
  
Also, there are extreme spoilers on what happened in Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3, and Resident Evil: CV, so don't blame me if I ruined the entire game for you.  
  
Author's Additional Note: I am working harder then ever on this multi-chaptered story, as this is my best work yet. Expect many chapters with a lot of action, suspense, and more...just more. I am going to make this the best I can, for all of you that read this. I promise you...you won't be disappointed with the end result. I even outlined the whole story, and I plan to follow every part of the outline, no matter how difficult it may be to put it on paper (or Notepad). I can't reveal the whole outline I have all written out, as it spoils a lot of the upcoming chapters, but let me just say that you'll love it. Remember, I love getting comments from you guys, since it helps me write the story better as well as with enthusiasm. Comments are always good for an author's soul, whether they like to admit it or not...  
  
Also, I hope that the length is better. I'm trying to write larger chapters, because I hate how small some of my previous chapters are. I want them all big and nice and readable...  
  
This is the revised version of chapter seven...enjoy...  
  
Anyways, on with the chapter...  
  
  
  
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -  
-By Brian Marcelo-  
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-  
Rated R...  
  
  
  
-Hoping For The Best-  
-Chapter Seven-  
  
  
  
-The Hotel in Paris, France-  
  
  
  
Claire Redfield opened her eyes slowly, still tired from a restless night filled with horrible dreams of Steve dying again...  
  
She could still remember how her dream felt. Steve was trying to save her this time, except he was human...and Alexia Ashford and Wesker were there too. She dreamt about him, running towards her, only to be captured by Alexia, who started to whip him with her large tentacles, putting huge lacerations on him...then, Wesker swiftly stole him away...and started to experiment on him...putting large needles in him...  
  
Wiping her tears away, she looked up at the ceiling, wondering what was happening to Steve...  
  
Wesker had him, and was probably trying to extract T-Veronica virus samples from Steve...  
  
She hated the fact that she wasn't able to save Steve from Alexia, and then not being able to save Steve's body from being further defiled by Wesker and whoever he was now working for...  
  
Sighing heavily, she got out of bed, put on some decent clothes, and trying her best not to wake up her still sleeping brother, quietly crept out of her room, and was surprised to see that Leon Kennedy had opened the door to his room at the same time.  
  
Leon's expression was one of surprise and...happiness?  
  
She was confused. After all...it was just her coming out of the room and out into the hallway. It wasn't anything special, really.  
  
"Good morning Claire..." said Leon, walking up to her, surprised at how nice Claire looked this morning, "You look nice today..."  
  
Claire blushed in surprise. Leon S. Kennedy was acting strangely, but not in a bad way though.  
  
"Thank you, Leon...you don't look too bad yourself..." replied Claire cheerfully, while playfully hitting his arm.  
  
Leon, much to Claire's surprise, blushed deeply.  
  
"Hey, uh...you feeling okay Leon?" she asked, a bit worried about whether or not it was just a simple blush.  
  
"I'm feeling great, actually." he said, flashing his million-dollar smile at her, "Say, feel like getting some breakfast?"  
  
Claire smiled softly at the offer given to her by Leon.   
  
Claire remembered that Leon S. Kennedy had lost someone too...Ada Wong, so it was like Leon and Claire had yet another thing to add to the list of things they had in common.  
  
"Sure, Mr. Rookie cop...but you're buying though...hehe..." she said playfully, as they both left the hallway to go get some breakfast.  
  
  
  
-Ada's Office, in the HCF Facility in Paris-  
  
  
  
"I can't believe he's here..." she said to herself quietly, as she curled up in her chair.  
  
She thought that she should be happy that the guy that she fell for in Raccoon City was back.  
  
She didn't know whether to feel frightened, sad, or happy....  
  
However...it wasn't like she was exactly a good person to begin with. She had done a lot of devious things in her time, like how she had become the girlfriend of a researcher named John, who happened to work at the Spencer Mansion facility. She had used him so that she could learn more about Umbrella and what they had been working on. She thought he was still alive by the time she had gotten to Raccoon City, but she was mistaken, as Annette Birkin had later revealed that John had been dead a long time ago, and tragically had been turned into a zombie.  
  
She felt a slight numbness that someone as sweet as John could just die like that, but she quickly brushed those feelings aside.  
  
After all, she had had a job to do, and that was to get the G-Virus sample to HCF.  
  
However, she felt something different from Leon Kennedy. Despite the fact that she would constantly be getting away from him to explore the Umbrella Facility and secure a sample of the G-Virus, he kept finding her, trying to protect her like he was some knight in shining armor.  
  
She was quite capable of protecting herself though, but she had to admit, it was cute.  
  
Her short lived relationship with Leon fell to hell the minute they had met up with Mr. X, a killer tyrant sent by Umbrella to obtain a sample of the same virus that Ada was after.  
  
She had managed to obtain a sample of the G-Virus accidentally via Sherry's pendant, and was thus hunted down by Mr. X until... it happened...  
  
She closed her eyes tightly as she remembered it as if it happened yesterday.  
  
Mr. X had tried to kill Leon, thinking he had the G-Virus, but Ada, who had fallen in love with Leon, decided to help her friend by distracting Mr. X by firing her handgun at it's face. In a blind rage, it picked up Ada and violently swung her against a control panel. With blood gushing down from its face, Mr. X fell off the platform and on to hot lava, supposedly dead.   
  
Leon raced to her side and tried to help her, but she was beyond help. In her last moments of life, she had told Leon that she had fallen in love with him, then it became all dark until...  
  
Wesker had appeared, apparently still in Raccoon City. HCF still had use for her, so Wesker found her and injected the "Miracle" virus into her, reviving her, as well as leaving her with yellow pupils, a minor side effect of the virus.  
  
Before she had left with Wesker on a helicopter, she had given Leon a Rocket Launcher to use against Mr. X, who had transformed into something quite similar to the first Tyrant that had killed Wesker.  
  
Ada Wong curled up in her chair a little more, not sure what to feel after learning from Wesker that Leon S. Kennedy was in Paris, along with the S.T.A.R.S. members and Claire Redfield. She had tried letting go of her past before, shedding tears in the process, but now that Leon was back...she felt like crying again...  
  
While she was remembering all this, she also started to think about her meeting with Wesker that she had a few hours ago. It was interesting to hear about how Steve Burnside had been brought back to life and that he was currently being held in a high security room to be further experimented on. Especially the two scientists who were experimenting on him were mentioning this Steve Burnside person a lot these days. She noticed how Wesker was mentioning Steve quite a lot, as if Steve was a vital part of Wesker's plans.  
  
Her thoughts were interrupted, as she suddenly started thinking about Leon Kennedy again.  
  
As she was starting to cry, she couldn't help wonder why Wesker looked so angry when he mumbled something that sounded like "the Queen" under his breath...  
  
  
  
-In a HCF Holding Cell-  
  
  
  
Steven Burnside paced back and forth slowly while stretching, trying to get all the feeling in his body back, and still feeling extremely exhausted by his whole ordeal.  
  
He still couldn't believe that he was actually dead. It didn't feel like it. It just felt like he had been asleep for a long time...  
  
It worried him a bit, that it just felt like sleeping. Maybe all those religions saying things about there being an afterlife were wrong?  
  
Then again, maybe they were still right. After all...this was a special circumstance. Maybe the T-Veronica virus had kept him in stasis while repairing his body, making him look as if he was dead?  
  
He had no time to dwell on matters like these, though. The only thing on his mind right now was....her....  
  
Claire Redfield...the girl who he had helped escape from Rockfort Island, as well as help her against numerous monsters, as well as Alfred Ashford...  
  
"Claire.." he quietly said aloud.  
  
Claire Redfield...he was in love with Claire Redfield. He remembered how, right before he died, he had said the words "I love you...Claire...". It was the first time he had ever said them, and at the time, he thought it would also be his last.   
  
Now...he had a chance to say those loving words again...but not if he was still stuck in this prision cell.  
  
They say that relationships formed under tense situations never last but...this was different...this wasn't about looks or sex or anything like that...this was...love...  
  
He fell in love with her...the time they had spent together, trying to escape from the island...they had grown so close in such a short period of time.  
  
Steve wanted so desperately to hold Claire in his arms and tell her that he was okay, and that he'd be her 'knight in shining armor' again.  
  
"Right.." he said to himself, forgetting for a split second that Claire wasn't exactly the 'damsel in distress'.  
  
Especially since, at the moment, he was locked away in a holding cell, with freaky scientists saying things like wanting to extract the "T-Veronica" virus from his body. Right now, he was the "damsel in distress" and desperately needed some saving by Claire.  
  
"Claire...be careful...the...the Queen is coming..." he said solemnly, hoping that somehow, someway, Claire Redfield, wherever she was, could hear him, "Alexia Ashford...she's...returned...be careful...please...I hope...you're gonna be okay..."  
  
  
  
-End of Chapter Seven-  
  
  
  
Be on the lookout for Chapter Eight... 


	8. Return Of The Queen

Author's Note: This is my take on what happens after Resident Evil: Code Veronica.   
  
There are extreme spoilers on what happened in Resident Evil 1, Resident 2, Resident Evil 3, and Resident Evil: CV, so don't blame me if I ruined the entire game for you.  
  
Author's Additional Note: I am working harder then ever on this multi-chaptered story, as this is my best work yet. Expect many chapters with a lot of action, suspense, and more...just more. I am going to make this the best I can, for all of you that read this. I promise you...you won't be disappointed with the end result. I even outlined the whole story, and I plan to follow every part of the outline, no matter how difficult it may be to put it on paper (or Notepad). I can't reveal the whole outline I have all written out, as it spoils a lot of the upcoming chapters, but let me just say that you'll love it. Remember, I love getting comments from you guys, since it helps me write the story better as well as with enthusiasm. Comments are always good for an author's soul, whether they like to admit it or not...  
  
Also, I hope that the length is better. I'm trying to write larger chapters, because I hate how small some of my previous chapters are. I want them all big and nice and readable...  
  
To avoid confusion, I'll list the facts on who made what virus here:  
  
T-Virus: Created by Edward Ashford and Ozwell Spencer in the twentieth century after researching the "Mother Virus".  
G-Virus: Created by William Birkin and completed during the month of September of 1998.  
T-Veronica Virus: Created by Alexia Ashford by combining the T-Virus with a virus found in the body of a queen ant.  
  
And since Wesker's virus has no official name as of 3/10/02, I have dubbed it the "Miracle Virus". A fact is that William Birkin created it, and another fact is that it currently is in Wesker's bloodstream, while some speculate that since Ada is alive, as shown in one of the ending files of Resident Evil 3, she also has what I call the "Miracle Virus". However, it is never pointed out how Ada is alive, though, although it is a good assumption that she was injected with the "Miracle Virus" after she had died helping Leon S. Kennedy.  
  
An interesting thing to note is that as William Birkin was dying he injected himself with the G-Virus, as opposed to the "Miracle Virus", which would've let him keep his humanity as well as give him super strength and agility. Ah well, I guess he wasn't thinking at the time or rather, he gave the last sample of the "Miracle Virus" to Wesker, but if I were William Birkin, I would've kept extra samples just in case I was about to die. Better yet, I would've given myself an injection of the "Miracle Virus" so when I died somehow I would be revived and super powerful. Perhaps I will try to explain all this in a future chapter of this story...  
  
Anyways, on with the chapter...  
  
  
  
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -  
-By Brian Marcelo-  
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-  
Rated R...  
  
  
  
-Return Of The Queen-  
-Chapter Eight-  
  
  
  
-On an airplane en route to Paris, France-  
  
  
  
"Would you like some coffee, ma'am?" asked a flight attendant.  
  
"No..." replied a young blond woman in her about her mid-twenties, her tone of voice demanding respect and an apology as well, for the disruption.   
  
"I'm sorry for bothering you...well then, if you need anything, just ask." said the flight attendant politely with a smile, as she went to serve other passengers.  
  
"Infidel...they all should be obeying my every command instead of treating me as if I were like them..." thought the blond woman, "after all...I am like the Queen Ant...ah well...they will all soon become my army of ants...ready to do anything for their powerful queen..."  
  
She smiled as she started thinking about what she would do when she would finally get to Paris. She had never been there before, and had always wanted to visit Umbrella's Main HQ located in Paris. She had been interested in what they had been working on during the 15 years she had been absent, which was due to her being in cold storage so that the T-Veronica virus could adapt and coexist with her body.   
  
"Perhaps," she thought to herself, "They've progressed to the point where the infected host still returns their intelligence, like I have..."  
  
Of course, her trip wasn't just to go to Umbrella's Main HQ in Paris...  
  
Alexia Ashford was on her way to Paris, France because of them, those inferior siblings that had ruined all her plans, had killed her loyal worker-ant-type brother Alfred, and then had killed her using a Linear Launcher, effectively blowing her to pieces. Unfortunately for the Redfields, they had no idea of the vast power that the 15-year-old T-Veronica virus within Alexia Ashford's body had...   
  
Unlike Steve Burnside, who had been simply revived after being dead because of the T-Veronica still inside his bloodstream, the T-Veronica virus did much more for Alexia then simply reviving her...it did more then even she could predict, as smart as she was...  
  
Alexia smiled as she remembered how she was reborn into utter and complete perfection...  
  
  
  
-Flashback two days ago, in the remains of the Antarctica Research Facility-  
  
  
  
The raging flames all over Umbrella's Antarctica research facility caused by the explosion from the self-destruct system suddenly stop, as if they are being put out by some mysterious force...  
  
Pieces of gray matter and blood that are near what's left of the control room start to move together, all going towards the middle of the room, as if something is being regenerated...  
  
Soon tentacle parts, body parts, inhuman body parts start to appear in the room, and are slowly floating towards the middle of the room, where someone is being self-repaired and being put together, piece by piece...  
  
After sometime, it's finished, and a person is left in the middle of the room, naked, and appearing to be dead, until...  
  
She opened her eyes slowly, unsure of where she was, what time it was, what month it was, as well as if she's dead or alive. Realizing that she wasn't in hell thanks to the cold metal grating that was making her unclothed back itch a bit, she tried to get up, and was shocked at the fact that she felt...great.  
  
Better then great...more like...perfect. She quickly realized that she didn't feel tired or exhausted at all from being killed and then being regenerated somehow.   
  
"How...? How did I get...back here...after being blown apart...?" she asked herself, thinking that maybe she might know the answer, as she was the one who had created the T-Veronica virus in the first place, "I suppose...the T-Veronica virus had adapted to my body even more so then I thought it did...so much that it gathered what was left of me and regenerated the rest...and now that my body has even more T-Veronica virus in it then before...that means I'm even more powerful...a matter of fact...I am now the embodiment of the T-Veronica virus...I am...perfect now, just like my virus."  
  
Proud of herself for having thought up an explanation to her being alive again, she stretched a bit and went off to find some clothes. After finding another dress that Alfred had kept for her when she was to return after being in cold stasis for 15 years and putting it on, she went and found an undamaged computer terminal and checked what had happened while she was dead, as well as what Umbrella was up to now, since she hadn't had a chance to check the database since she was busy testing out her new T-Veronica virus abilities, as well experimenting on Steven Burnside's body by using the T-Veronica virus on him, making sure Wesker didn't get to her, and keeping the Redfields out of her way.  
  
Typing on the nearly burnt keyboard, she checked Umbrella's database and cross-referenced "Antarctica Research Facility" and "Rockfort Island".  
  
  
"The Antarctica Research Facility has been destroyed and is currently in ruins. It appears that the Rockfort Island was attacked as well, no doubt by our chief rival in T-Virus research, HCF.   
  
Somehow HCF has managed to find T-Veronica samples and currently has them in a high-level security room in their Paris, France Headquarters. We here at Umbrella's main headquarters, also in Paris, France, are currently working on ways to retrieve the samples.  
  
- Umbrella Special Forces Unit, Hunk"  
  
  
Already knowing this, she decided that she might as well check on the progress of Umbrella's scientists and researchers from all the branches.   
  
  
"William Birkin has finished the G-Virus sample, just in time for testing. His reason for creating the G-Virus was to compete with the deceased Alexia Ashford's virus, the T-Veronica virus. Both are similar, although the G-Virus is injection-only as well as being terribly unstable, while the T-Veronica virus effects are unknown, although it was said to be immensely powerful. Seeing that the T-Veronica virus was made years ago and yet it is still more powerful then the G-Virus, Mr. William Birkin still has a lot of research and testing to do.  
  
- Umbrella Raccoon City, log recorded by researcher Jack Marshall, September 10th 1998"  
  
  
"We here at Umbrella Europe have developed a new B.O.W. which we have codenamed "Nemesis". Similar to a Tyrant, it is still in testing stages, although at the moment it can be assigned to do certain things, such as being programmed to hunt down someone or something down. An interesting thing to note is that it appears to use the tentacles that surround its body as its weapons as opposed to the Tyrants' huge claws.  
  
- Umbrella Europe, log recorded by researcher Greg Jones, September 20th 1998"  
  
  
"That all?" she said frowning, disappointed that Umbrella was doing such a poor job in her opinion, "Since the files on the viruses are outdated and only go as far as September 20th, perhaps they have advanced their projects a little in just 3 months. That G-Virus sounds a bit interesting, but still, that William Birkin is a fool if he thinks that the G-Virus could possibly match my T-Veronica virus. A simple researcher like himself couldn't possibly match my intelligence and virus making skills. Perhaps I should go to Umbrella HQ myself to see personally what they have done so far in T-Virus research..."   
  
As she mused about going to Paris, she noticed that some of Umbrella's files on rogues and renegades that were a threat to the company were updated up to today, so she checked them, hoping to find some information on the Redfields.  
  
"Currently former S.T.A.R.S. members Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Barry Burton, and Rebecca Chambers are all on their way to Paris, France, no doubt wanting to investigate our headquarters in Paris. It seems that they will also be joined by Claire Redfield, the sister to Chris Redfield, former rookie RPD cop Leon Scott Kennedy, and ex-U.B.C.S. member Carlos Olivera. We are expecting their arrival however, and have upped our security force so that if they try to break into the headquarters, we shall be ready."  
  
"The Redfields....?" Alexia said aloud, "They survived...?"  
  
Alexia Ashford was mad.   
  
Very mad.   
  
Not only did the killers of her loyal brother survive the destruction of her base, but they were in Paris so that they could take down Umbrella. The same Umbrella that she was planning to restore to glory using her T-Veronica virus...   
  
Thinking for awhile on what she should do now that she was back from the dead and informed of recent events, she decided that it was time for a little trip.   
  
After packing her things that she had left in the facility, she hastily left to find the nearest airport, which was just fifty miles or so away...  
  
"They are going to pay dearly..." she whispered to herself, as she went to find the airport.  
  
They had killed her once before, but now it was time for them to feel what it was like to die...  
  
  
  
-Back to the present, en route to Paris France-  
  
  
  
"This is your pilot speaking. We will be landing shortly. We here at American Airlines hope you have enjoyed your trip. Also, have fun in Paris, the city of love." said the pilot over the intercom.  
  
"I've always wanted to visit Umbrella HQ...especially since it's so close to the Eiffel Tower..." she said to herself, smiling a dark smile, as her pupils started to look like flames....  
  
  
  
-End of Chapter Eight-  
  
  
  
Chapter Nine is coming soon. Hopefully you'll love it if you've enjoyed this story so far...  
  
And hopefully you'll like how much better each chapter seems to be getting in detail as well as length... 


	9. Breakfast Time

Author's Note: Yeah, I'm attempting to make the "author's note" part of each chapter relatively smaller, so that you the fans get to have more nice material to read and then review about, to either flame or praise the chapter. Hopefully it'll be the second one...  
  
By the way, you'll see why this ficcy is rated R in later chapters when it gets...well...it'll get...uh...yeah. Horror-ful is the best way to put it. Of course, this ficcy is rated R-ish, as you'll soon find out.  
  
I hope you like the slightly polished and less messy look of the last chapter as well as this chapter and future chapters, since I'm trying to make it easier for you guys to read.  
  
Anyways, on with the chapter...  
  
  
  
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -  
-By Brian Marcelo-  
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-  
Rated R for violence and guns. Lots of guns.  
  
  
  
-Breakfast Time-  
-Chapter Nine-  
  
  
  
"What do you want to order?" asked Leon, as he fumbled with the menu, which was written in French and therefore difficult to read.  
  
Claire smiled and laughed a bit as she watched Leon try desperately to somehow learn French so that he could order her something nice, or at least edible, for breakfast.   
  
As well as not look like an idiot.  
  
"How about one of those fancy...French...foods that people always talk about?" he asked her, hoping that she might suggest something that could be ordered.  
  
"But Leon, I'd much rather eat something that you ordered for me..." replied Claire cutely, complete with puppy dog eyes. She liked seeing Leon clueless, especially since he usually knew how to handle things.  
  
Blushing furiously after seeing Claire's cute display, Leon quickly went through the menu again, trying to see any sort of English wording that might hint at something. Unfortunately for the rookie cop, he found none.   
  
"Having difficulty finding something to order...? So...hungry....Leon..." asked Claire in a cute, hungry way.  
  
Seeing this, Leon S. Kennedy, for the first time in his life, quickly pulled aside a waiter and asked him what the heck did the whole menu mean.  
  
"Sir...the menu has an English side on the sixth page." said the waiter plainly, as he took the menu from Leon and flipped over to the page.  
  
Mumbling a small thanks, he ordered two orders of ordinary sausage, scrambled eggs, and, to try and taste some of Paris' culture, "French toast". The waiter took the menu abruptly, went into the kitchen, and came out with the food surprisingly fast.  
  
"Wow...how did you get the food so fast?" asked Claire in disbelief.  
  
"Oh, you Americans always order the same thing here, so we keep ten or so of these dishes in the back for your kind. It was ironically funny the first hundred times, but after awhile, hearing someone order French toast just makes me mad." said the waiter, his eyebrow slightly twitching as he started to walk away, "Oh yes, and enjoy your meal."  
  
Leon merely blushed and nodded, except this time it was from immense embarrassment.  
  
"What a rude waiter, don't you think so Leon?" said Claire, as she scooped up a piece of egg with her spoon, "I gotta admit though, this stuff is pretty good...mmm...reminds me of home...thanks Leon, for ordering something that caused you much embarrassment...hehe.."  
  
Seeing Claire smile as she said that made Leon's heart flutter. "She knows just how to fluster me..." he thought to himself.  
  
"You're welcome, Claire." said Leon happily, his face breaking out into a wide smile as he started chewing on his French toast  
  
  
  
-HCF Prison Cell-  
  
  
  
"Breakfast time." said a guard coldly, as he slipped a tray of food into Steve's room. Having not eaten in such a long time, he quickly took the tray and examined it.  
  
Unfortunately for Steve, the food, if you could call it that, resembled what looked like day old sunny-side up eggs and a piece of hard toast. Reluctantly, he took the bread and put the eggs on top of it and began chewing.  
  
"Claire..." he said quietly, while chewing.  
  
He had spent the night thinking about her, praying for her, hoping that she would be okay.   
  
Especially since the Queen was back.  
  
Steve didn't know how or when it happened, but during the time that he had died, he had picked up the ability to sense where Alexia Ashford was. He thought it was probably due to the fact that they were both "family", because they were both infected with the T-Veronica virus. It still bothered him on why he started calling her the "Queen", since it wasn't exactly a conscious decision of his to call Alexia Ashford something so high and noble. Besides, after what she had done to him, he much rather preferred calling her a certain five letter word beginning with the letter B.  
  
He paced around small damp cell and wondered why Claire was in Paris. He desperately hoped that she wasn't trying a suicide run in Umbrella's facility again. The last time she tried that she was captured and sent to Rockfort Prison, where she later met Steve.  
  
Steve felt a bit guilty as he thought about that, because if it wasn't for her getting caught, he would have never met her and probably would've been suck in the prison, to eventually die all alone.   
  
"Please Claire...don't do anything you'll regret...or worse, something that won't even give you time to regret..." he said quietly, silently hoping she could heed his warning somehow.  
  
"...what the hell...?" suddenly said Steve, as he dropped his half-eaten toast to the ground and put his hands to his head, in pain.  
  
"No...how can this be...?" he yelled out in pain, as slumped again a wall for support, his headache getting increasingly larger.  
  
"No...you shouldn't even exist...! No...you crazy...bitch...! How can it be...?!" he yelled out again, loud enough for his guards to hear him.  
  
"How did you make it...? The explosion should've killed you...!"  
  
"The Queen...how can you be here...in Paris...!? God, Claire! Stay away from the Queen! Wherever you are, you must avoid the Queen at all costs...! She'll kill you if she finds you...!! Aaaaahhhhhhhh.....!" he yelled out one more time, before collapsing to the ground.  
  
  
  
-Chris and Claire's Hotel Room-  
  
  
  
"Chris! Help me!" said a frightened Jill, as she was being chased by a huge dark figure, which was about 8 ft. Chris, in total surprise, could only watch in horror as it was running after her, mumbling the word "S.T.A.R.S."  
  
"Jill!! Is that...the Nemesis!?" Chris yelled out, wondering if that was the thing that had chased Jill in Raccoon City. However, the setting had changed from Raccoon City to Paris, and the Nemesis, which looked even bigger then how she described it, was catching up to her...  
  
"Jill! Run! I'll try to keep him busy!" said Chris, as he fired his Colt Python on the creature, hoping that the magnum bullets would take it down.   
  
*bam!*   
  
The Nemesis stopped dead in its tracks, the magnum round hitting him square in the chest, blood pouring from the wound.  
  
*bam!* *bam!*   
  
Two more rounds started to make it bleed heavily as it grunted loudly in pain put it's hand around the wounds, hoping to stop the blood flow.  
  
*bam!* *bam!* *bam!*   
  
Three more rounds dropped it to the ground, the six magnum rounds making bloody medium sized holes in its lifeless body.  
  
"Whew..." said Chris, as he put his now-empty magnum down and went over to Jill, to see if she was okay.  
  
"You okay there...?" he said, putting an arm around her and checking for any bruises.  
  
She smiled at him and said, "I'm fine Chris...thanks to you..."  
  
He smiled back at her, his heart fluttering as he gazed lovingly at her simple smile.  
  
"S.T.A.R.S......" groaned something definitely not human...  
  
"What the hell...?" said Chris, as he quickly turned his head, only to be horrified to see that the Nemesis was standing up, the bullet holes gone, and looking mighty pissed.  
  
To Chris and Jill's surprise, it started to run again after Jill savagely, as if the magnum rounds merely stunned it for a second.  
  
"Jill!" cried out Chris, as he quickly reloaded his magnum and tried firing at the Nemesis, who was somehow dodging every single round.  
  
"Chris! Please help me! I don't wanna die.." shrieked Jill, as she tried firing at it herself with her puny handgun, which had no effect on the Nemesis.  
  
"S.T.A.R.S..." groaned the creature again, as it caught up to Jill and picked her up with it's left hand.  
  
"Jill! Nooo!" screamed Chris, as he ran up to Jill and tried to dislodge her from the Nemesis' powerful grip.  
  
To Chris' horror, the Nemesis started to laugh, a deep, guttural, low laugh, as if to taunt the persistent Redfield.  
  
"You bastard! Let her go!" said Chris, who was firing at the Nemesis in point-blank range, only to realize that now nothing was effecting it.  
  
The Nemesis, tired of toying with its prey, shoved Chris a few feet away harshly, breaking his spinal cord in the process.  
  
"Jill...!" groaned Chris, as he struggled to get up.  
  
Jill looked at Chris as it was the last time she would see him, before the Nemesis used it's right hand, which had a sharp tentacle on it, and shoved it at Jill's head, blood splattering everywhere as the tentacle painfully killed Jill Valentine. All Chris could do was look on in horror as the love of his life was squirming and convulsing in the Nemesis' grasp before she was thrown away by the creature, who once again groaned "S.T.A.R.S." and started after Chris, it's next target...  
  
"Chris..."  
  
"Chris..."  
  
"Chris..."   
  
"Chris Redfield...wake up now or regret it later." threatened a familiar female voice to Chris, which snapped him out of his nightmare and back to reality.  
  
Waking up slowly, he opened his eyes and realized that it was Jill, who looked like she had just waken up not too long ago. Thinking that she was dead just a few seconds ago, he quickly wrapped his arms around her lovingly and held her close. Jill, totally confused yet, not minding the embrace, put her arms around him and did the same. They remained like that for a minute before Chris actually started speaking.  
  
"Thank God you're alive, Jill...I thought...I thought I had lost you..." whispered Chris, as he let Jill see his softer side that he often hid with his brash and tough side of him.  
  
"What..? What do you mean...?" asked Jill in surprise, still not understanding the whole situation.  
  
Chris realized that she was confused, and, rather then remind her of the Raccoon City incident, he simply looked into her eyes...  
  
"It's nothing Jill...I just had a bad dream...that's all..." he said, gazing into her eyes as he smiled.  
  
Jill, worried about her close friend, decided not to ask about it, as she didn't want to pry into what could be a personal dream. Still...she couldn't help wonder what had happened to her in his dream.  
  
"Hey Chris, why don't I go wake up Rebecca and Carlos so we can meet up with Leon and Claire? They said they were going to the restaurant that we had passed by on our way to the hotel, and well, I'm pretty hungry...hee..." asked Jill with a smile.  
  
He smiled back at her, although he cringed when he realized that she mentioned Carlos. Not wanting to spoil Jill's idea, he nodded, picked up a glass of water, and said, with a mischievous smile, "Okay, but let me wake up Carlos, alright?"  
  
Jill nodded as Chris quickly walked out of the room with the glass of water and into the room that Jill and Carlos occupied. As she followed after Chris, curious as to what he was going to do with the glass of water, all of the sudden she heard a familiar heavy accent accompanied by a lot of Spanish cursing.  
  
And she couldn't help but giggle when she realized why Carlos was cursing so much.  
  
  
  
-End of Chapter Nine-  
  
  
  
Stay tuned for Chapter Ten, which will hopefully come out soon... 


	10. Growing Up Too Fast

Author's Note: Yeah, I'm attempting to make the "author's note" part of each chapter relatively smaller, so that you the fans get to have more nice material to read and then review about, to either flame or praise the chapter. Hopefully it'll be the second one...  
  
Also, sorry for misspelling Carlos' last name wrong. From here on out, it'll be fixed to "Carlos Oliviera". Sorry for the rather big spelling mistake...  
  
This chapter is what I thought about writing when I remembered about how Leon or Claire could find a picture of Rebecca Chambers in Wesker's old desk...creepy it was...not the picture though. She's cute. I should also mention that this chapter is a bit different compared to the relatively lighthearted chapter before this one. This one is darker...  
  
Also...Wesker is an evil bastard, in reality and in dreams. Also, he's a bit OOC in this chapter...err...just read and find out.  
  
Anyways, on with the chapter...  
  
  
  
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -  
-By Brian Marcelo-  
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-  
Rated R for adult situations.  
  
  
  
-Growing Up Too Fast-  
-Chapter Ten-  
  
  
  
-Leon and Rebecca's Hotel Room-  
  
  
  
Rebecca Chambers shifted uncomfortably in her sleep as she thought about the last three months after the mansion incident...  
  
She had just wanted to move on with her life and forget it all had happened. She was still so young, still so inexperienced in life. Umbrella...Umbrella had ruined everyone's lives...as well as ending many people's lives...  
  
Her friend Chris Redfield was driven to the point of obsession, as he desperately wanted Umbrella taken down once and for all, especially after he had rescued his little sister Claire Redfield from the clutches of Alexia Ashford, who was remade into a T-Veronica virus monster, as well as Albert Wesker, the ex-Captain of the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team.  
  
Her other S.T.A.R.S. teammate, Jill Valentine, had her life and home destroyed when the T-Virus had spread throughout the city, killing thousands in the process. She was forced to run as fast as she could from the city, as a new Tyrant had been sent to kill her and any S.T.A.R.S. members as well. It was crushing to Jill to see her friend, Brad Vickers, beg for help before getting killed by the Nemesis. It was so difficult to escape that Jill had needed help from a U.B.C.S. Corporal that went by the name of Carlos Oliviera. Using a lot of teamwork, especially against the Nemesis, they had managed to escape the city thanks to Barry Burton, who had intercepted their radio transmission and picked them up before the nuke sent by the US government had destroyed the city.  
  
Almost like a father figure to Rebecca, Barry Burton had been forced to be Wesker's pawn when the S.T.A.R.S. were in the mansion, attempting to look for the Bravo team. Wesker, who threatened to hurt his family if he didn't do what he said, blackmailed him. Barry reluctantly destroyed evidence, as well as do other acts that nearly compromised the mission. After that, he had managed to help Jill, Chris, and Rebecca to escape, and vowed to help Chris take down Umbrella. Unfortunately for Barry, he had to leave his family so he could repay the debt he owed to Jill and Chris for betraying them.  
  
For Rebecca Chambers, the effect was different for her. Granted, she did not go through what they did, but she was one of the first people to experience it, as well as being the only Bravo team member to survive. After all, she was so much younger then everyone else that it had a much deeper effect on her psyche. She became traumatized for a while after the Spencer Mansion incident, not wanting to do anything, just wanting to stay in her small apartment, still thinking about all her teammates who were slaughtered.   
  
Jill had tried to visit her once, since Rebecca was not coming to work, only to find that Rebecca was curled up on her coach, looking dully at the ceiling and walls, while mumbling something incoherent.  
  
Jill, at the time, had to admit that Rebecca did a good job of hiding her fear using her cheery attitude when they were in the mansion.   
  
Rebecca merely nodded when she had said that.  
  
It took her two more weeks after the incident, and by then she was back to semi-normal, as she was back at work, only this time something was missing. The youth...the cheerful-ness...the life in Rebecca Chambers seemed to have dimmed. As if someone half blew out a bright light in Rebecca's soul or something.   
  
Rebecca, when asked what happened to her cheerfulness, merely said, with a sweet tone in her voice to cover her pain, "I'm just being forced to grow up a bit too fast, but that's all..."  
  
She tried her best to manage, but often times, she would come home and cry herself to sleep, sometimes wishing that she could've died along with her teammates, so she wouldn't have to live with what she saw...what she felt...and what she was still feeling.  
  
When Chris had asked her to join him and Barry to go to Europe, she hesitated, not wanting to relieve what she had felt during the mansion incident. However, she wanted to take down Umbrella, and who better to do that with then with two other people who felt the same way about the company like she did. As soon as she could, she gathered up her essentials, such as clothing and medical supplies, and left with Chris and Barry to Paris...  
  
*bam!* *bam!*  
  
"Stay away!" yelled the young medic, as she unloaded two shots into the monster. She was confused...she was back at the Spencer Mansion...and something was chasing her...  
  
*bam!* *bam!*  
  
"Why...? Why are you running after me!" she shouted, as she started to run, firing two more shots at her pursuer.  
  
*bam!* *bam!*  
  
"Why...why me...?" she said, as she tried shooting at the thing again, only to have it dash right to where she was, knock the gun out of her hand, and proceed to hold her by her throat.  
  
"Why do you run, little girl?" sneered the man, who had blond hair and black sunglasses.  
  
"Because...you killed my team...!" spat Rebecca, struggling for air as she kicked and punched the man holding her by her throat.  
  
"You know, Rebecca...I've always had a certain thing for you...you're so young...did you know that...?" said Wesker, as he brushed his black gloved hand across her cheek.  
  
Rebecca, extremely scared and freaked out now, struggled desperately against Wesker, who was starting to move his hand towards areas of her body that were not suppose to be touched. It was creepy when Leon had shown her a picture of herself that he had found in Wesker's desk when he was in Raccoon City, but this was much creepier...  
  
"Wha-what do you want with me...?" Rebecca managed to gasp out, slowly choking from Wesker's tight hold on her neck.  
  
"Why...you of course..." he said, as he started to put his free hand in areas that were off limits, "You're so young...so innocent and pure...you've grown up so fast..."  
  
Rebecca's eyes shot wide open in surprise, and her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, as the young medic tried her best to kick and punch him away, not wanting him to lay another dirty hand on her.  
  
"Why bother fighting me Rebecca...?" Wesker said, laughing quietly as he increased his hold on her neck, tightening it to the point where she could barely breath, "Besides...I bet you love the attention I'm giving you..."  
  
"No...you can't...do this...you sicko..." she said hoarsely, her air supply depleting as she tried to shove his hand away from her body, trying to not allow him to humiliate her further.  
  
"Don't you enjoy this though, little Rebecca...?" he whispered to her, as he brushed her hands away and preceded to feel her even more, "I know you do...you're loving every second of this...aren't you...? From what I'm touching, it sure feels like you're enjoying this...heh heh...."  
  
Rebecca tried with all her energy to keep his probing hand from touching her, but he was much stronger then her, and he kept brushing her away, as if she was as weak as a kitten.  
  
"Please...stop..." she cried out, not able to take the humiliation Wesker was bringing upon her any longer.  
  
"Fine..." he said disappointedly, as he stopped probing her with his hand, "I'll just kill you now."  
  
He smirked at her as he started to choke her, tightening the hold on her neck immensely.  
  
"Noo...ooo....!" Rebecca gasped out, as she quickly and painfully suffocated, her vision fading away to nothing but darkness......  
  
"Rebecca..."   
  
"Rebecca...?"  
  
"Rebecca!"   
  
Suddenly Rebecca bolted up, sweating and looking quite pale. Quickly scanning her surroundings, she realized that she wasn't in the mansion anymore; she was in her hotel room, her bed sheets sticking to her because of her sweat, and beside her was her friend and fellow S.T.A.R.S. member, Jill Valentine, who looked awfully worried for her friend.  
  
"Are you alright Rebecca...?" she asked, worried deeply.  
  
Not wanting to remind Jill of Wesker, she merely nodded and, putting a fake smile on, said, "I'm fine Jill. Bad dream. That's all..."  
  
Jill looked at her strangely, suspicious of what her friend had dreamt about.  
  
"You know, Chris had a nightmare just a few minutes ago..." said Jill, wondering if the two nightmares were connected.  
  
"Oh really...? Poor guy...say...where is everyone now?" asked Rebecca, who attempted to change the subject.  
  
"Everyone's one their way to breakfast," said Jill with a smile, "Wanna come?"  
  
"I'd be more then happy to, hehe!" replied Rebecca, putting on her little mask of happiness and cheerful-ness on, as not to alarm Jill with her real mood.  
  
"That's the good old Rebecca I know! Come on, let's hurry up, cause Carlos and Chris are starting to get hungry!" said Jill, happy that her friend was back to her old self.  
  
"Hehe, kay!" replied Rebecca, finding it painfully difficult to fake happiness...  
  
'The good old Rebecca that you knew died along with her teammates a long time ago, Jill....' thought Rebecca sadly, as she joined her friend to go eat breakfast with the rest of the gang...  
  
  
  
-End of Chapter Ten-  
  
  
  
This was on the verge of angst. Ouch.  
  
Anyways, hope you enjoyed the story, and yes, this will probably be the only chapter in the series that has adult situations like this...  
  
Stay tuned for Chapter Eleven, which won't be adult-situation-ish... 


	11. Hostage Situation

Author's Note: Yeah, I'm attempting to make the "author's note" part of each chapter relatively smaller, so that you the fans get to have more nice material to read and then review about, to either flame or praise the chapter. Hopefully it'll be the second one...  
  
Also, you might want to reread Chapter One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, and Seven. They are slightly revised with a bit more detail, as well as using "-" instead of "~", if you know what I mean...  
  
Also, sorry for misspelling Carlos' last name wrong. From here on out, it'll be fixed to "Carlos Oliviera". Sorry for the rather big spelling mistake...  
  
Oh yeah, and this isn't as...well, it's not like chapter ten, which featured Rebecca...just read ten to find out what I mean, or heck, you could even be nice by reviewing that chapter after reading it...  
  
Finally, thank you for all the reviews so far, guys...I anxiously await more reviews, as they are my inspiration for writing...too bad I didn't get any reviews for the last chapter, but hopefully I'l get some for this chapter, heh heh....*nudge nudge*  
  
Anyways, on with the chapter...  
  
  
  
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -  
-By Brian Marcelo-  
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-  
Rated R...  
  
  
  
-Hostage Situation-  
-Chapter Eleven-  
  
  
  
-H.C.F. Main Headquarters in Paris-  
  
  
  
"Stay the hell away from me!" shouted Steve at the top of his lungs, as he struggled to get away from the scientists, "Don't even think of touching me with those needles!"  
  
"Calm down...we're just going to get samples of your T-Veronica virus..." said the young scientist, who was the same one who had examined him along with the older scientist when Steve was being resurrected.  
  
"Yes...if you just sit still we'll be done in no time..." said the older scientist, as he tried advancing towards Steve, with a rather big needle in his hand.  
  
"No! You stay away from me, you crazy doctor!" replied Steve, as he backed away from them.  
  
All of the sudden, a tall figure appeared in the doorway to Steve's cell, looking angry as he stared at Steve.  
  
"Is there a problem?" said the figure, as his eyes darted from Steve to the two scientists, "I thought you two said you could handle Mr. Burnside here."  
  
"Well sir, we did but...he's apparently very frightened of needles...sir..." mumbled the young scientist meekly.  
  
"Why do you need samples of the T-Veronica virus from him? Didn't you already get them while he was being revived?" asked Wesker, looking obviously annoyed.  
  
"Yes sir, but we've run tests on Mr. Burnside while he was unconscious, and it shows that the T-Veronica virus in his bloodstream have actually stabilized!" said the older scientist excitedly, "so basically, it makes the unstable samples of the T-Veronica virus unnecessary."  
  
"There's no way in hell I'm going to cooperate with you!" shouted Steve defiantly, "I'm not going to let you sick people create any more monsters to hurt people!"  
  
"I just have to do everything myself, don't I?" sighed Wesker, as he walked up to Steve and swiftly knocked him out with just one punch, not giving the poor guy enough time to figure out what was happening.  
  
The scientists, in complete surprise, shock, and awe at the speed and power of Wesker, decided not to ask Wesker how he did that and, instead, quickly kneeled down to the once again unconscious Steve Burnside and began taking samples of his blood. Once they were done taking enough samples, they left, excited about the prospect of stabilizing the T-Veronica virus using advanced means. Wesker however, stayed in the room and waited for them to get out.   
  
"You, Mr. Burnside...are going to help me get revenge..." he said coldly, as he picked him up, slung him over his shoulder, and carried him outside of the room.  
  
  
  
-In another part of the H.C.F facility....-  
  
  
  
The young woman known as Ada Wong looked into the mirror, eyes darting over to the rather big scar on her abdomen, which she had received after being swung against a control panel by an enraged Mr. X, who she had aggravated by shooting him at point blank range on his face.  
  
Thinking about the incident wasn't nearly as amusing at looking at her H.C.F. file. Not in the least bit.  
  
During the incident, it was the first time she had truly fallen in love, the first time she had risked her life for someone else, the first time she did something right...  
  
However, it was first time she had died. A painful, slow death...  
  
Shaking her head as if to get Leon S. Kennedy out of her head, she proceeded out of the room, intent on not letting someone like him confuse her life any more then it already was.  
  
Besides, for her, love was something you could switch on and off, like a light bulb.  
  
Love meant nothing to her now, especially since it was the reason she had died in the first place.   
  
All there was to her life was her work as a spy for H.C.F.  
  
  
  
-Umbrella Main Headquarters in Paris-  
  
  
  
"It doesn't make any sense, dammit. The President is a buffoon...he denies my request to infiltrate H.C.F. so that I can retrieve the T-Veronica virus, yet he does something else that is a complete waste of Umbrella's time." said Hunk, as he lit a cigarette.  
  
"I'm telling you, they should just send me after ex-S.T.A.R.S. member Jill Valentine and ex-U.B.C.S. Corporal Carlos Oliviera. Why do they have to waste valuable resources of the company just to track down two people?" asked Agent Hunk, wondering why the hell he wasn't being sent after them.  
  
"Like I've said a million times, 'Mr. Death', I do what the higher-ups tell me to do. I can't do a damn thing about your situation and lack of use here..." replied a scientists annoyingly, as he was operating on what appeared to be a dead body.   
  
A big dead body that had tentacles all over it.  
  
"The higher-ups are fools...they send B.O.W. after B.O.W. and each one has been destroyed. The Tyrant that was being developed at the Spencer Mansion was destroyed along with the mansion itself...then the Mr. X had been destroyed by Leon S. Kennedy...and don't forget about the Nemesis that you had sent after Jill Valentine and the rest of the S.T.A.R.S. members...that one was a failure just like everything else." said Hunk, as recalled the events of what happened in Raccoon City.  
  
"With every failure comes success! We are closer then ever to perfecting the Tyrant and it's variants! This new prototype Nemesis is even stronger then it's predecessor! It will destroy Miss Valentine and Mr. Oliviera...just you watch, 'Mr. Death'. He will make you obsolete..." said the scientist, with acid in his voice as he grinned with pride over the newest B.O.W. that he helped design and create.  
  
Hunk, disgusted with the scientist's unhealthy, and not to mention obsessive, enthusiasm over the new Nemesis prototype, left the room without a word.  
  
  
  
-In the H.C.F. Parking Lot, half an hour after Wesker kidnapped Steve...-  
  
  
  
"Revenge is so near..." said Wesker aloud, as he began to tie up the still unconscious Steve Burnside and handcuff him, putting him into the backseat of his car.  
  
Wesker had it all planned out. Just an hour ago he had someone leave a note on the door of the Redfield's hotel room when no one was around, and half an hour ago he just kidnapped Steve Burnside from H.C.F.'s lab facility without any of the scientists suspecting a thing. Now, he was going to drive to the central of downtown Paris and hold Steve Burnside hostage as bait, all in public, as he would then wait for Claire and Chris Redfield to arrive.  
  
Sure, he might risk getting questioned by H.C.F. later, and sure, he may get spotted looking rather odd in the middle of Paris, holding someone who was handcuffed, tied up, and half conscious...but still...he would get revenge on the two people that had caused him immense trouble during the Mansion incident, and almost made him lost a sample of the T-Veronica virus in Antarctica.  
  
He didn't care about H.C.F. at the moment. All he cared about was revenge on the Redfields, especially Chris.  
  
"Soon Chris Redfield...you shall feel what I went through...in the worst way possible..." he said, smirking as he started driving towards downtown Paris, "And after I've taken care of you and your little sister...the Queen is next..."  
  
  
  
-French restaurant where Leon, Claire, Chris, Jill, Rebecca, and Carlos are-  
  
  
  
"Hey, sorry about dumping the water on you, Carlos, but I had to find a way of waking you up fast." smirked Chris, as he tried to make his apology as..."sincere" as possible.  
  
"Eh...no problem man...just...don't do that again, alright?" groaned Carlos, not sure if Chris was really sorry or not.  
  
"Huh?" said Leon aloud, wondering what the hell they were talking about.  
  
Claire, also confused about what they were talking about, scooted over to where Jill was sitting and asked her what had happened. Jill, who was only slightly less confused then Claire, merely said, "Chris wanted to wake him up...so he did."  
  
Claire looked at her brother oddly; he wasn't the type of person to do things like that without a reason.  
  
"Hey Jill, do you know why he did that?" she asked the older girl, hoping that she'd have an answer.  
  
"All he told me was that he wanted to wake him up...come to think of it, Chris has been acting a little funny since he got here, at least to me." replied Jill, who was eating blueberry pancakes.  
  
Claire looked at Chris and Jill for a while, wondering what was up.   
  
"Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine. Both of them are partners. Both of them haven't seen each other for a while. Now they're back together. Chris also seems to be glancing every now and then at Jill. Is it just me, or does this sound like the beginning of a cliché romance?" thought Claire to herself, realizing that her brother obviously had the hots for Jill Valentine.  
  
Grinning evilly, Claire thought that she, being the kid sister of Chris, should be the first one to notify Jill of Chris' feelings towards her.  
  
"Jill?" whispered Claire, as she put her hand to Jill's ear as to cover her mouth movements, in case Chris somehow secretly learned how to read lips.  
  
"Uh...yeah Claire?" replied Jill, wondering what Claire was gonna say or do.  
  
"You know how Chris feels about you, right?" asked the young Redfield.  
  
"What...?" replied Jill, who was starting to get an idea of it.  
  
"He's falling for you, of course." stated Claire, just low enough so that Chris and Carlos couldn't hear.  
  
Jill Valentine had a lot of admirers, and her biggest one that she knew about for a while was Carlos. Chris Redfield had always been her friend and partner, and she had almost seriously considered, while drunk, to bring Chris home with her after the Christmas party that was going on at the R.P.D. just to see what would happen.  
  
This...this was something she hadn't expected from her partner.  
  
"Chris Redfield...falling for me...?" thought Jill Valentine to herself, as she blushed a deep red.  
  
"Uh...Jill? You okay?" asked Chris, who looked worried after noticing Jill's increasingly red cheeks, thinking she was sick or something.  
  
"What? Oh...it's nothing Chris..." she said with a soft smile, "I'm absolutely great, actually..."  
  
  
  
-At the Paris Hotel, Barry's Room-  
  
  
  
"That's the last of 'em..." said Barry, as he packed the two rather large backpacks with the various guns and ammo that the S.T.A.R.S. would need to take down Umbrella. He had chosen to join the group for breakfast later, instead wanting to make sure they had everything packed.  
  
Umbrella...the corporation that had been ruining his life for a long time now.  
  
He had been blackmailed by Wesker, who threatened his family, to help him destroy evidence as well as lure the S.T.A.R.S. members to the Spencer Mansion.   
  
Umbrella....Umbrella was the reason he wasn't home in Canada with his family...his loving wife, his two daughters...  
  
Even though he was forgiven by his teammates, he still had a debt to pay to them, after everything he had done, so he left with Chris and Rebecca to Paris, where they were now planning Umbrella's demise.  
  
"These guys...I have to protect them. They're like my kids...especially since I'm the oldest one here. I betrayed them.....I have a debt to repay to them...my friends." Barry said to himself, as he made sure everything was set.  
  
As he walked out of the room with the backpacks slung over his back, he noticed there was a note taped to the door of the Redfield's room.  
  
"Nobody else but us know we're here..." said Barry, as he picked up the note and put it into his pocket, deciding that he'd give it to Claire and Chris when he got to the restaurant they were at.  
  
"Probably an old friend of Chris' in Paris wants to meet up with him or something." said Barry with a grin as he left the hotel, thinking that Chris had undoubtedly met a girl while he was in Paris the first time.  
  
  
  
-At the same airport that Claire and Chris had arrived in the day before...-  
  
  
  
"Wasn't that a nice flight, lady?" said a young boy, as he followed Alexia Ashford out of the airplane.  
  
"No. Go away, ant." said Alexia.  
  
"It was fuuunnn!! We got to watch movies and fly!! Wasn't that great?" said the young boy again, making flying motions with his toy plane.  
  
"No." said Alexia, getting more annoyed by the young boy every second.  
  
"Whee! I love airplanes! Life is so fun! Whee!" squealed the little boy happily.  
  
Alexia stopped walking and knelt down in front of the boy and said, "Do you think it would be fun if I turned you and everyone else in Paris into my worker ants, who obeyed all of my commands and nothing else but my commands, for all of your natural existence?"  
  
The young boy ran off crying, screaming for his mom because of the scary lady. Alexia, satisfied with her work, walked out of the airport and reluctantly hailed a taxi, since she didn't want to cause a scene just yet with her ability to summon large tentacles to move around.  
  
"Where to?" asked the taxi driver gruffly.  
  
"Umbrella Pharmaceutical's main headquarters here in Paris." she said, with dark flames visible in her pupils, "and step on it."  
  
  
  
-Downtown Paris-  
  
  
  
"The Queen...is here in Paris..." groaned Steve, as he started to wake up, slowly realizing that he was bound in rope and handcuffs.  
  
"You're finally awake." said Wesker, looking angry, "The Queen, eh? She'll be...taken care of..."  
  
"She's more powerful then powerful..." said Steve, still a bit groggy.  
  
"Quiet!" shouted Wesker, as he backhanded Steve, which made a bloody mark on Steve's right cheek.  
  
"Mm...mm...." mumbled Steve, as he tried to struggle out of his confinements, "What are you going to do with me...?"  
  
"You're my hostage..or rather, my bait. You should be happy though, Mr. Burnside, because I've made arrangements so that Ms. Redfield will be joining us shortly." said Wesker, who sounded amused now.  
  
"Cla-claire...? Claire's coming...?" said Steve, looking surprised.   
  
"Soon, Mr. Burnside. Soon." replied Wesker cryptically, as he awaited for the Redfield's arrival.  
  
  
  
-End of Chapter Eleven-  
  
  
  
Stay tuned for Chapter Twelve...  
  
Someone is going to die…and you'll never guess who… 


	12. The Letter

Author's Note: Yeah, I'm attempting to make the "author's note" part of each chapter relatively smaller, so that you the fans get to have more nice material to read and then review about, to either flame or praise the chapter. Hopefully it'll be the second one...  
  
" " denote speech, while ' ' denote thoughts.  
  
Finally, thank you for all the reviews so far, guys...I anxiously await more reviews, as they are my inspiration for writing...*nudge nudge*  
  
Also, I'll try to keep the story more organized and less messy, since I love you guys.  
  
And sorry, but nobody dies just yet in this chapter. Sorry for saying that they would in the last chapter, but I decided it would be more dramatic to put it in Chapter Thirteen...  
  
Anyways, on with the chapter...  
  
  
  
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -  
-By Brian Marcelo-  
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-  
Rated R for...  
  
  
  
-The Letter-  
-Chapter Twelve-  
  
  
  
-At the French Restaurant, 11:59 AM-  
  
  
  
"Hey Barry!" said Chris, as he noticed his friend walking up to their tables.  
  
"Hey all!" Barry said with a smile as he took a seat with his friends, still a little tired from carrying two rather large backpacks of weapons and ammunition to the car, "Anything good to order here?"  
  
"The French toast is pretty good." said Claire with a grin, as cocked her head towards Leon, who had been embarrassed earlier by the waiter for ordering French toast.  
  
"Yeah...it's great..." muttered Leon under his breath, still and mad at the waiter for being so grouchy.  
  
"Oh yeah, I almost forgot... " said a Barry with a wide grin on his face, as he took out an envelope from his pocket and handed it to Chris, "I found this on your hotel room door, Chris, heh heh. Who's it from? A girl in Paris perhaps?"  
  
"Huh?" said a confused Chris, as he took the envelope and examined it, "I haven't met anyone around Paris, Barry..."  
  
As Chris opened the envelope and took out the letter within it, he looked at who it was addressed to, and looked rather shocked.  
  
"Claire...?" said Chris as he handed the letter to her, "This letter is for you..."  
  
Claire, who had the same look of confusion as her brother Chris, took the letter from him and read it aloud so that everyone could hear her.  
  
  
'Claire,  
  
You remember how I had Steve Burnside in my possession? Remember how I said he might come back sometime, like I did?  
  
Guess what?  
  
He's back. It seems that the T-Veronica virus that Alexia injected him with brought him back to life.  
  
But guess what?  
  
I'm back as well.  
  
If you want to see Steve, go to the center of Downtown Paris. If you bring anyone else with you besides your brother, I'll make sure that Steve dies a second time, and then I'll come after you and your brother.  
  
- Wesker'  
  
  
There was an awkward silence as Claire finished the letter, all of them feeling confused, surprised, shocked, and/or angry. Nobody said anything for a while, as they were all at a lost for words at the shocking revelation.  
  
Wesker was back, and in Paris. He was back, just like he said he would be.  
  
Jill Valentine and Barry Burton both couldn't believe their ex-Captain was back to haunt them once more. Jill hated Wesker just as much as Chris did, since Wesker had killed her teammates all for the purpose of combat data. Barry hated how he was used by Wesker to destroy evidence, as well as help him bring the S.T.A.R.S. members into the mansion.  
  
Rebecca Chambers clenched her teeth silently, angry with Wesker for killing her teammates, and for ruining her once happy, cheerful life. He had traumatized her to the point where she had to fake being cheerful so that her friends wouldn't worry.  
  
Leon S. Kennedy and Carlos Oliviera, the only ones who had been lucky enough not to have met Wesker, hated him already, from all the stories they had heard about him from the group. Leon especially hated Wesker after he had heard what had happened in Antarctica and how he almost killed Claire.  
  
Leon looked at Claire and realized she hadn't said anything after reading out the letter; she wasn't even moving, she was just staring at the letter silently, her eyes unwavering from it.  
  
"Claire...?" Leon asked with a worried voice, "Claire...? Are you alright...?"  
  
Jill glanced over to Chris and realized that he was barely moving like his sister, looking angry as he gritted his teeth. The last time Jill had seen Chris that mad was when he was telling her about what Wesker had done at Rockfort and Antarctica, and how Wesker had taken Claire as his hostage after Chris had destroyed Alexia Ashford.  
  
"Chris...?" Jill asked with the same worried tone as Leon, "You okay...?"  
  
"He kills my friends...he nearly kills me...and now he threatens my sister life..." said Chris through clenched teeth, "I'm gonna kill him...I'm gonna kill him..."  
  
Chris abruptly stood up without another word and walked over to the jeep that Leon and Claire had driven to get to the restaurant.  
  
"Come on Claire, we have to go save your friend." he said simply, almost coldly. Jill, understanding of what Chris was going through, decided not to say anything except silently wish him good luck.  
  
She nodded and started walking towards the jeep without saying a word as well, until Leon grabbed on to her arm.  
  
"Claire, wait...shouldn't we come along too...?" Leon asked quietly, not wanting to just sit around and do nothing.  
  
"No Leon." she said coldly, "If any of you come, he'll kill Steve."  
  
"How can you be so sure? What if he kills Steve anyway and then comes after you...?" Leon said with pleading eyes, "Please let me come with you...I don't want to see you get hurt..."  
  
"This is something that only my brother and I can handle, Leon...I have to save Steve..." she replied, as she turned away from him and, without another word, walked up into the jeep and sped off with her brother towards downtown, leaving Leon speechless and heartbroken.  
  
There was another awkward silence between the group, as they all were unsure of what to do or say. After a while of this, Leon decided to speak up.  
  
"We should go follow them..." he said simply, hoping that his friends would agree with him.  
  
"Leon..." Rebecca said softly as she tried to reason with him, "You heard what the letter said...if we come along, he'll kill Steve..."  
  
"From what I've heard of Wesker, it seems he'll just kill Steve in front of Claire just to spite Chris!" Leon argued, desperately wanting to make sure Claire would be alright.  
  
"I agree with Leon...I think we should follow, but be a block or two away....I mean, Wesker may be enhanced, but I'm sure he couldn't see us from that far away..." said Jill, who wanted to make sure that Chris was going to be alright as much as Leon wanted Claire to be alright.  
  
"What are we waiting for then? Let's go!" said Carlos impatiently, wanting to get into some action. Leon, looking towards Barry and Rebecca for their response, saw them nod their heads in agreement, wanting to make sure their friends had back up just in case things went sour. The group proceeded towards the van that Barry had driven to get to the restaurant and went in, in pursuit of the Redfields', in hopes that they could somehow be of some help to them.  
  
  
  
-On the way to Downtown Paris, 12:05 PM-  
  
  
  
"Check the glove compartment Claire." said Chris as kept on speeding towards the central of Paris.  
  
"Sure Chris." she replied, as she opened the glove compartment and to her surprise found a Browning HP handgun along with two clips of ammo.  
  
'Whoa...this reminds me of when Leon and me were in that cop car...' she mused to herself as she checked the gun, 'Feels just like yesterday when that happened...heh...it's even the same model of handgun that I used in Raccoon city...'  
  
"Thanks bro...uh, hey Chris, what about you?" she asked, wondering if her brother had any sort of weapon on him beside his combat knife, which had been a gift from their father.  
  
"I've got my trusty Enhanced Glock right here...I didn't get to shoot Wesker with it the last time I saw him, but since then I've had time to prepare a special bullet with his name right on it..." he said, clenching his teeth again at the chance he had missed.  
  
Claire, surprised by how her brother was acting, decided to keep quiet and go back to thinking about Steve.  
  
'Steve...I'm coming for you...I'm sorry for not being able to do anything when Alexia had attacked and captured us...I'm sorry for not being able to save you from Wesker's clutches...but this time I'll save you, now that you're alive again. I'll save you, Steve...' she thought to herself, as her brother Chris kept on driving faster towards Downtown, anxious to take down Wesker once and for all.  
  
"It's payback time, right Claire?" said her brother, which interrupting her thoughts of Steve.  
  
Claire quietly nodded as she held her Browning HP handgun tightly. This wasn't going to be easy, but she was determined to get back Steve no matter what happened to her.  
  
  
  
-Downtown Paris, 12:07 PM-  
  
  
  
"They should be arriving soon..." said Albert Wesker quietly to himself, as he tilted his black sunglasses slightly.  
  
"Wha-what are you going to do when they get here...?" asked Steve, sounding frightened at what Wesker could do to Claire and Chris.  
  
"Why Mr. Burnside, what do you think I'm going to do?" replied Wesker with a smug smile on his face, "I'm going to do what I should've done a long time ago."  
  
Steve just closed his eyes and looked away from Wesker, silently cursing himself.   
  
'This is all my fault...Claire is going to risk her life to save mine...sigh...it would've been better if I had just stayed dead...that way Claire wouldn't get hurt....' Steve thought to himself solemnly.  
  
  
  
-On the way to Downtown Paris, 12:09 PM-   
  
  
  
"Everyone got their gear?" asked Barry, who made a sharp left turn at the intersection.  
  
"Geez, calm down with the driving, would ya Barry?" said Carlos, as he was trying to steadily reload his standard U.B.C.S. standard issue M41A Assault Rifle which he had took as a "memento" of his time at Umbrella.  
  
Barry muttered an apology as he took a sharp right at the next intersection, which made Carlos bump his head rather hard at the side of the van.  
  
Everyone was gearing up with what Barry had brought. Leon had taken the Custom Remington M1100-P Shotgun that he had once used while trying to escape from Raccoon City, Carlos had his M41A Assault Rifle that he had used to battle the Nemesis countless times, Barry had taken a Desert Eagle 50A.E Magnum since he had used a magnum during the Mansion Incident, Rebecca had taken a Custom Beretta-M92FS, and Jill had taken the Western Custom shotgun, which was the same one she used to escape from the Nemesis. Barry had made sure that the group was prepared with familiar weapons, because they were going against Umbrella and they were likely to have many troops, as well as T-virus B.O.W.  
  
However, they didn't plan on seeing Wesker, and from what they heard from Chris, he was like a Tyrant in power, only much faster and much smarter. All of them having experienced what a Tyrant type monster could do, they decided to pull out the heavy weaponry from the start.  
  
"Claire.." Leon whispered to himself quietly, as he went over his shotgun carefully, "In a way, you picked Steve over me kinda...no...sigh...I'm being stupid...but still...I can't help but feel that you did..."  
  
Jill, noticing Leon's discontent, nudged him a bit and said, "You okay Leon?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm okay..." he replied with a small smile, "I just didn't think we'd have to fight so soon."  
  
"Yeah...I know what you mean. Don't worry though...after all this is over, we can stop fighting and start living again..." she said with a smile, hoping to somehow cheer Leon up. They both had gone through hell trying to escape from Raccoon City, so fighting for their lives was something they had both gotten used to, and after three months, still couldn't forget.  
  
"Thanks Jill. I hope so..." said Leon solemnly, as he reloaded his shotgun with a loud *click*.  
  
  
  
-End of Chapter Twelve-  
  
  
  
Okay, I said someone would die in this chapter...uh...sorry. Not just yet....  
  
Someone will die in unlucky Chapter Thirteen...which will be coming soon...  
  
Chapter Thirteen is called "Dance With The Devil", so you all can guess what that means... 


	13. Dance With The Devil

Author's Note: Yeah, I'm attempting to make the "author's note" part of each chapter relatively smaller, so that you the fans get to have more nice material to read and then review about, to either flame or praise the chapter. Hopefully it'll be the second one...  
  
" " denote speech, while ' ' denote thoughts.  
  
Finally, thank you for all the reviews so far! I anxiously await more reviews, as they are my inspiration for writing...*nudge nudge*  
  
Anyways, on with the chapter...  
  
  
  
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -  
-By Brian Marcelo-  
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-  
Rated R for violence and some blood.  
  
  
  
-Dance With The Devil-  
-Chapter Thirteen-  
  
  
  
-Downtown Paris, 12:15 PM-  
  
  
  
Wesker adjusted his black sunglasses a bit, noticing in the distance that the Redfields' were in a jeep, on their way to confront him and as well as rescue Steve Burnside.  
  
'That's it...come closer Chris...come closer so that I may exact my revenge upon you.' Wesker thought to himself while smirking.   
  
Wesker, normally cold and emotionless, was quite excited. His plan for revenge on the Redfields for all they had done was fully set in motion now, and soon, he would be showing Chris Redfield what true pain was like. Wesker had spent quite a few nights wondering how he could inflict the same type of pain that Chris had put him through, and just now he had thought of the perfect way to do so.  
  
'You'll feel the pain I felt when you ruined my plans in that mansion long ago, Chris Redfield...I'll make you suffer in the worst way possible....' thought Wesker to himself, as he pulled out a large combat knife.  
  
  
  
-H.C.F. Facility, 12:17 PM-  
  
  
  
Ada Wong hurriedly started to prepare for her next mission, which was given to her directly by Wesker instead of H.C.F.   
  
'I owe Wesker...especially since he had saved my life...' she thought to herself, as she picked up her Browning HP handgun.  
  
"Heh...this is the same handgun I used while I was in Raccoon City." she mused aloud to herself, "Do I even need it anymore?"  
  
The truth was that she didn't really need the handgun at all; Wesker had secretly revealed to her that the Miracle virus that had revived her also had given her super strength and super agility. After the scientists would poke and prod her to see if they could somehow extract the Miracle virus from her, Wesker would meet up with her and teach her how to use her new powers. Ada, the ever-suspicious spy, asked Wesker why he was helping her. He merely said that since he was helping her, she would have to return the favor someday.  
  
Despite having super strength and speed, she thought she might as well bring the handgun along, so that she could conceal her true power in case she had to.  
  
"Wesker did save my life. He could've left me for dead, but he didn't. So...I owe this to him." she said to herself quietly, as she walked out of her office and towards the Lab area so that she could "borrow" a sample of a certain virus...  
  
  
  
-On the way to Downtown Paris, 12:19 PM-  
  
  
  
Carlos Oliviera anxiously looked out the van's window, wondering if they were close to where Wesker was. He had never been one to sit around when there was trouble, and since it had been awhile since he had got any action, he was a bit psyched. He was a born soldier all right, but he had a strong sense of right and wrong, and he wasn't able to let this Wesker guy kill that Steve guy that Claire apparently had cared a great deal for.  
  
Carlos wasn't exactly very smart or anything, but he was clever and very loyal to his friends. He was also one who couldn't bear to see innocent people, like the people of Raccoon City, to just die so pointlessly. He had come along with Jill Valentine not just because he was attracted to her, but mainly because he had felt it was his duty to avenge those who had died in Raccoon...the civilians...the police officers...his teammates...Mikhail...all of them were all killed because of Umbrella and their research on the T-Virus.  
  
Carlos had respected and admired Mikhail Victor, the leader of the U.B.C.S. that Carlos was a part of, quite a lot. He was a very loyal person, a fantastic leader, and he cared about his troops as if they were his sons, and would die for them if he had to.   
  
Nicholai Ginovaef, the sergeant in the same group with Carlos and Mikhail, was a different case. He had betrayed his teammates, killed quite a few of them, and had tried on numerous occasions to kill both Jill and Carlos. Fortunately, the Nemesis had taken hold of Nicholai and had killed him, which put an end to the madness caused by Nicholai.  
  
Carlos shuddered as he remembered the Nemesis...  
  
It was a huge, imposing creature that stood at around 8 feet. Tentacles surrounded its body, hidden beneath a large dark trench coat. The one thing that Carlos could never quite forget was it's face; stuck forever in what looked like agony and and pain...dead skin everywhere...one eyed stitched up...and that lipless grin that it always had.   
  
The Nemesis had tried to kill Jill; it even identified her as a S.T.A.R.S. member. Mikhail however, being a great leader to the end, sacrificed himself by blowing up the part of the train that he and the Nemesis were on with his final grenade, allowing them to escape at the cost of his own life.  
  
'Mikhail...don't worry.... I'll make sure you and our comrades didn't die in vain...Umbrella is going down...I promise...' he thought to himself as he double checked his M41A Assault Rifle, making sure it was fully loaded and set on manual.  
  
  
  
-Downtown Paris, 12:25 PM-  
  
  
  
A small crowd of people gathered around the four individuals that were exchanging words and gestures that they didn't understand, yet were fascinated by nonetheless.  
  
"If it isn't Chris Redfield and his sister Claire Redfield." said Wesker, as he held Steve by a chain that was around his neck, "Tell me Claire, how does it feel like to have someone close to you come back to life?"  
  
Chris clenched his teeth as he pointed his Enhanced Glock, which was capable of going through multiple targets with a single bullet, directly at Wesker.  
  
"You're not gonna get away with all that you've done, Wesker!" yelled Chris, "I'll make you pay for what you did to my teammates, and my sister!"  
  
"You monster..." Claire shouted loudly, her handgun trained on Wesker, "Give me back Steve!"  
  
"Claire! Please...don't bother to save me! Please...please...Claire...run while you still can!" Steve shouted, not wanting the love of his life to be hurt just to save him, "Please Claire! Just go!"  
  
"But Steve...I need to save you! I wasn't able to save you before...but now I have a chance to!" Claire argued, hoping that Steve would listen to her.  
  
"Claire...please...don't blame yourself for my death! It wasn't your fault! Please Claire...just go before it's too late!" replied Steve desperately.  
  
"Steve...I'm going to save you...I owe you..." she said, her eyes slightly tearing up, "Especially after you saved me so many times..."  
  
"Claire! You don't understand...you have to go...please...if you don't go soon...the Queen...she'll find you...she'll find you...she'll find you and kill you..." Steve said, sounding deathly afraid.  
  
"The Queen? Who the hell is that?" asked Chris, with his gun still pointed in Wesker's direction.  
  
"It's Alexia Ashford, you fool, and my my, aren't we having a tender little moment here?" interrupted Wesker, as he pulled rather roughly on the chain attached to Steve's neck.  
  
"Leave him alone!" yelled Claire, as her voice started cracking up, raw emotion flowing through her.  
  
"Or what, little Claire? Are you going to shoot me?" Wesker said mockingly, treating her as if she was a child.  
  
In utter rage, Claire fired her Browning HP handgun at Wesker, hoping to hit him with a headshot. Wesker simply dodged it, leaving a blur image where he had been. Claire's jaw dropped as it happened, wondering how someone could be so fast to dodge a bullet.  
  
"Stupid girl...don't you understand how powerful I am?" said Wesker, as he waved around his combat knife.  
  
"Why are you doing this Wesker?" Chris demanded gruffly, wondering what the hell was Wesker's motivation for all of this, "What are you doing here? Why did you take Steve hostage? Why!?"  
  
"You fool...you have no idea. I'm doing this for power...all for power....and revenge." Wesker sneered, as he pulled roughly on Steve's chain attached to his neck, causing Steve to gasp for air.  
  
  
  
-A block away from the central point of Downtown Paris, 12:30 PM-  
  
  
  
"There's Wesker..." whispered Jill in awe as she looked through the binoculars, surprised to see her ex-Captain alive, as well as super enhanced, "And he just dodged a bullet..."  
  
"What do you mean?" Rebecca asked in shock.  
  
"He...just...dodged it. He left a blur too..." Jill said, hoping that maybe she was just seeing things.  
  
"Aw hell no...hell no! No one can be fast enough to dodge a bullet!" Carlos said, steadily being freaked out by the whole situation.  
  
"What's happening now Jill?" Leon asked, his voice full of concern over Claire's well being.  
  
"They're talking...and Wesker's waving around a combat knife..." Jill said, worried about what Wesker would do with the sharp object in his hand.  
  
  
  
-Downtown Paris, 12:33 PM-  
  
  
  
"I've waited a long time for this moment, Chris Redfield." Wesker said with a sadistic smile, "I'm going to enjoy seeing you suffer..."  
  
"What do you plan on doing?" Chris shouted, his Enhanced Glock still on Wesker, ready to fire when he got the chance.  
  
"You messed up my plans...you nearly ruined my search for the T-Veronica virus...so now I'm going to take away the thing that means everything to you..." said Wesker with a grin, as his let go of Steve and gripped his combat knife.  
  
Chris' pupils went large with fear as he quickly realized what Wesker meant. He desperately fired his Glock at Wesker, only to miss and get knocked back a few feet by Wesker, who shoulder-tackled him.  
  
In a split second before it happened, Chris looked over to his sister with fear in his eyes as he yelled out her name.  
  
Claire looked at her brother with a confused look, then tried to scan where Wesker had gone after shoulder tackling her brother, only to realize that Wesker was right in front of her. Gasping as her own pupils dilated, she tried to move, but was paralyzed with fear as he swiftly impaled his large combat knife in her abdomen multiple times. After the seventh stab in a span of only 4 seconds, Wesker left the combat knife deeply imbedded into her.  
  
"Claire!!" yelled Chris and Steve in unison.  
  
"Chris..." whispered Claire softly as she looked at her brother, before slumping to the ground, the pain overwhelming her senses as blood trickled out of the large knife wound in her abdomen.  
  
  
  
-A block away from the central point of Downtown Paris, 12:34 PM-  
  
  
  
"Omigod..." whispered Jill, as she got out her shotgun.  
  
"What...?" asked Leon, hoping to God that Claire was okay.  
  
"It's Claire...Wesker...Wesker just stabbed Claire...she's...on the ground now..." she said, as she threw down her binoculars and opened the van door.   
  
"Claire!" Leon yelled, as he pulled Jill aside and ran out of the van first and towards the scene, bringing his shotgun along with him. Without a word, everyone else ran out of the van, all holding his or her respective weapons, hoping to stop Wesker before he did any more damage.  
  
  
  
-Downtown Paris, 12:36 PM-  
  
  
  
Chris ran to his sister as soon as she slumped to the ground. He tried his best to remove the knife without causing any further damage and then started cradling her in his arms.  
  
"Someone call an ambulance! Dammit...someone call an ambulance!" Chris shouted desperately at the crowd that was gathered around them. One of the people in the crowd, a tourist from America, immediately got out his cell phone and called 911, saying that someone had just been stabbed multiple times.  
  
"I told you I would get my revenge, Chris. Now you'll suffer everyday when you realize that you weren't able to save your own dear sister." Wesker said sadistically, as he started to walk away from the scene, only to see that Leon S. Kennedy was a few feet away, his breathing slow and raspy, and his eyes full of hate as he pointed his shotgun at him.  
  
Without any words, Leon pulled the trigger on his shotgun. Wesker swiftly moved backwards, but not before getting hit in his right leg.  
  
"You'll pay for this!" Wesker said as he clutched his leg for a second in pain, and then, to everyone's surprise, swiftly ran away in a blur, as if the shells imbedded in his right leg didn't effect him that much.  
  
"Claire!" Leon shouted, as he ran over to where Claire and Chris were, accompanied by Rebecca who had her medic kit with her.  
  
"How bad is it Chris...?" asked Leon, as he looked over her wound.  
  
"It's bad...an ambulance is coming soon...Rebecca!" said Chris, "Can you do anything...Rebecca...?"  
  
The young medic looked over Claire and shook her head sadly.  
  
"The wound is too deep..." she whispered softly, "I don't have anything on me that'll help her..."  
  
After Barry and Carlos had untied Steve, he too ran over to Claire, cursing himself, since he thought he was the cause of all of this.  
  
Everyone gathered around Claire, some with tears in their eyes as they saw how bad the wound was.   
  
"There's the ambulance..." said Barry solemnly.  
  
"Please step aside, we need to get this girl on a stretcher!" said two men, as they picked up Claire and put her on a stretcher and into the ambulance, with Chris helping them. Leon and Steve tried coming into the ambulance as well, but were stopped by one of the men, telling them both that they had to be immediate family to be in the ambulance.  
  
"It's all my fault...Claire...." said Steve with tears in his eyes, as he got into the Redfield's jeep and followed after the ambulance, wanting to be with his love.  
  
Without another word between the group, Jill, Leon, Barry, Carlos, and Rebecca went back to the van and followed after the ambulance and Steve.  
  
"Claire..." whispered Leon, as he drove after the ambulance, "Please don't die on me..."  
  
  
  
-End of Chapter Thirteen-  
  
  
  
...Yeah. Next chapter is coming soon....  
  
Just to let you know, Claire is one of my favorite characters...  
  
As with every chapter, please rate and review this... 


	14. Losing A Loved One

Author's Note: Yeah, I'm attempting to make the "author's note" part of each chapter relatively smaller, so that you the fans get to have more nice material to read and then review about, to either flame or praise the chapter. Hopefully it'll be the second one...  
  
" " denote speech, while ' ' denote thoughts.  
  
Finally, thank you for all the reviews so far! I appreciate every new reader and every new review! I anxiously await more reviews, as they are my inspiration for writing...*nudge nudge* Again, thanks for all the reviews! It was very surprising to find seven reviews for my last chapter! Thank you all so very much!  
  
Anyways, on with another somber chapter...  
  
  
  
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -  
-By Brian Marcelo-  
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-  
Rated R.  
  
  
  
-Losing A Loved One-  
-Chapter Fifteen-  
  
  
  
-Downtown Paris Hospital, 1:37 PM-  
  
  
  
Chris Redfield solemnly kept looking through at the pictures that he had kept in his wallet, trying to remember good times to keep his mind off the current situation.  
  
'This one was when I was teaching Claire how to ride a bike....' he thought to himself, as he took the picture out and took a good look at it. It was tattered and torn, but he could still make out the happy look on her face as she was riding without her training wheels.   
  
Jill Valentine looked at her companion sadly, not sure of what to say to him. He had been awfully quiet for the past few minutes and it was beginning to worry Jill, because usually when he was angry he would be quite loud. She had never seen this side of Chris...quiet, solemn, sad...  
  
It broke her heart to see him this way.  
  
"Look at this picture..." Chris said quietly, as he handed a picture to Jill.   
  
"Ohh...?" she said, as she put the tattered black and white picture up close so she could make out what was there. It was, to her surprise, a picture of Claire with pigtails, holding up a handgun and a magnum in the air, with a mortified Chris in the background.  
  
"Our mom took that picture...she thought the look on my face was priceless..." he said with a sad smile as he pointed to the picture, "Claire was always interested in everything I was interested...did I ever tell you that...?"  
  
"Yeah...you told me that during one of our all nighters at the police station..." she replied with a soft smile, "You really do care about your sister a lot..."  
  
"Yeah...well...after since I was 5 years older then her I always felt it was my responsibility to care for her..." he said, as his head slowly dropped down in shame.  
  
"Chris...?" she asked, worried that she had made him even more depressed.  
  
"I wasn't able to save her this time..." he said very quietly, as he put his head in his hands again.  
  
Meanwhile on the other side of the room, Steve Burnside was cursing himself, because he thought that all of this was his fault.  
  
"All my fault..." Steve said while sighing, "It's all my fault...."  
  
"Look kid, it's no one's fault except Wesker...." Barry replied back as he put his hand on Steve's shoulder, "He's the cause of all of this..."  
  
Steve angrily brushed Barry's hand aside and moved to a different part of the room, mumbling and muttering how it was his entire fault. Barry sighed and took a seat, his efforts to cheer up the young man futile.  
  
Rebecca looked around the room, feeling immensely shaken up over their current situation. One of their best had just gone down thanks to Wesker, and there was a very real chance she wouldn't make it.   
  
'If only I had more medical expertise...then I would've been able to save Claire...' she thought to herself solemnly, "I wasn't able to save my fellow Bravo team members.... and I wasn't able to save Claire...'  
  
Carlos Oliviera, despite barely knowing Claire Redfield, still felt sad over the thing. As looked around the room he noticed that everyone was taking it hard, which made him feel slightly out of place here.  
  
'I hope that chica will be alright...' he thought to himself grimly.  
  
  
  
-Umbrella Lab Area, 1:38 PM-  
  
  
  
"So you were able to retrieve combat data from the first Nemesis how again?" asked a scientist, who looked quite skeptical.  
  
"I had implanted a chip in it..." said Greg, his eyes glued to the monitor.  
  
"And that also allows you to program who it hunts, right?" the scientist asked again, with a tone of disbelief in his voice.  
  
"Yes..." replied Greg, as he typed up some commands on his keyboard, "It's a prototype though, that's why I've been only testing it with the Nemesis..."  
  
"Ahh..." said the scientist, "So you could program it to hunt any target at any time?"  
  
"Yes, I could...although right now Ms. Valentine and Mr. Oliviera are my top priority targets..." Greg replied with a sadistic smile.  
  
  
  
-Wesker's Hiding Place in Paris, 1:39 PM-  
  
  
  
"What the hell happened to you?" asked Ada, as she examined the gunshot wound on Wesker's leg, "How'd you get it?"  
  
"After I had fatally wounded Claire Redfield that damn rookie cop showed up and tried to shoot at me..." he said as he started to bandage it up, "It'll heal soon enough..."  
  
Ada of course, didn't care about the last thing Wesker had just said, because she was too busy being shocked at what he had just said before that.  
  
'Rookie cop...? Ada thought to herself frantically as her heart raced, 'Leon...'  
  
"Did you bring it?" he asked abruptly, "Did you bring what I asked you to bring?"  
  
"Yeah..." she said as she took the T-Veronica virus sample out of her jacket pocket and handed it to him, "It took some work, but I managed to get it off the scientists."  
  
"Excellent...good job Ada..." he said as he looked at the virus, his expression hard to read with his sunglasses in the way.  
  
"Why do you need it anyways?" she asked, the spy inside her urging her to inquire him about it.  
  
"You'll see soon, Ms. Ada..." he said cryptically, as he gazed upon the virus sample once more...  
  
  
  
-Umbrella Paris Headquarters, 1:40 PM-  
  
  
  
Agent Hunk, known to quite a few as "Mr. Death", sat in his office, awaiting his next mission.  
  
'If only they would've let me hunt down those two...' he thought to himself as he went over his arsenal of weaponry.  
  
He had been quite lucky to have an office in the headquarters of Umbrella, especially since most soldiers usually didn't have the privilege to have one. However, Agent Hunk had always been the type to instead choose being assigned a dangerous assignment then sits around in a small office doing tedious paperwork.  
  
'If I don't get any action soon, I'll be very pissed...' he thought to himself once more, as he looked over his Magnum, which was the same one he had used to escape Raccoon City's Police Department.  
  
  
  
-On the crowded streets of Paris, 1:40 PM-  
  
  
  
"That is the last time I ever hail a taxi." Alexia Ashford said aloud, as she walked towards Umbrella Headquarters.  
  
"That idiotic taxi driver actually tried to make a move on me, Alexia Ashford..." she said disgustedly, "I bet now he feels sorry that he ever crossed paths with me..."  
  
Noticing that it would take quite a while for her to actually get to Umbrella Headquarters with the huge amount of people walking on the sidewalk, she decided to heat things up.  
  
Alexia raised her temperature high enough so that anyone near her immediately felt extremely hot, as if there was a fire burning right next to them, which made it quite easier to walk on the sidewalks.  
  
"Soon all these ants shall work for me..." she said quietly with a grin, as people started steering clear out of her way, complaining in French that it was starting to get really hot.  
  
  
-Downtown Paris Hospital, 1:41 PM-  
  
  
The French doctor that had performed the surgery on Claire Redfield neared closer to the waiting room, dreading this part of his job.  
  
'I really hate having to put people through this...' the doctor thought to himself sadly as he opened the single door of the waiting room.  
  
Everyone in there looked towards the doctor, which made him feel even more uneasy then he had been a few seconds ago.  
  
"I'm...sorry for your loss..." said the doctor sadly, as he approached Chris, "We did the best that we could...the shock and trauma that her body experienced from the multiple stab wounds were simply too much for her to take.... I'm...truly...sorry...."  
  
Chris Redfield looked at the doctor with shock in his expression. Everyone else looked just as shocked at what they heard.  
  
It couldn't be, they all thought, Claire Redfield couldn't be just...gone. After everything she had gone through, from Raccoon to Antarctica...and she just...died?  
  
It was too unbelievable for all of them, especially to Chris, Leon, and Steve.  
  
"No...this....can't be..." he managed to stutter out quietly, his eyes unwavering, his tone shaky, "Cla-Claire...my sister Claire...gone....?"  
  
"I'm...afraid so, Mr. Redfield..." the doctor replied sadly.  
  
Suddenly, Leon, who had been sitting down in a chair, got up abruptly, quickly grabbed Barry's magnum from the holster, and in one swift motion savagely pushed Steve Burnside against a wall, aiming the magnum right at his forehead.  
  
"This is all your damn fault!" screamed Leon, as he took the safety off the gun with a loud *click*, "All your damn fault!"  
  
Everyone tensed up except Chris, who was still in utter shock. They all looked at Leon with worry and fear in their eyes.  
  
"Leon...put the gun down...." Barry said, as he attempted to get his gun back.  
  
"Stay back Barry!" Leon shouted, his gun still on Steve. Barry reluctantly backed away, hoping the young cop would calm down.  
  
"Leon...please...just try to calm down...." Jill whispered, as she slowly tried to get near to Leon.  
  
"You too Jill! Don't make me use this on you!" he screamed, motioning for her to step back.  
  
Rebecca's eyes started to tear up, the stress of all of this getting to her as she looked at Leon, who had changed so fast after hearing that Claire was dead. Carlos stayed quiet, knowing that trying to reason with Leon was pointless since they barely knew each other.  
  
"This is all your damn fault Steve! If it weren't for you, none of this would've happened! Claire wouldn't have died if it wasn't for you coming back to life!" screamed Leon, who was acting purely on rage and raw emotion.  
  
"Do it." Steve replied simply, who silently agreed with what Leon was saying.   
  
Leon wasn't expecting that; he thought Steve would put up a fight or something, or put the blame off him and on to someone else. Despite that, Leon put his finger on the trigger, ready to fire, when he was suddenly stopped unexpectedly.  
  
"If Claire meant that much to you, then you won't pull the trigger Leon..." said Chris in a quiet voice, "We've already had someone that meant everything to us go...let's not let Claire's sacrifice be in vain..."  
  
Leon snapped back to his senses after hearing what Chris had to say, and let go of Steve and handed back Barry his gun.  
  
"I..." Leon tried to say something, but after what he had just done, it was difficult for him to compose a sentence.  
  
"No need for words Leon." said Jill quietly, "All of us understand..."  
  
Rebecca, Carlos, Barry, and even Steve nodded their heads in agreement.  
  
The doctor, who was getting freaked out, left the room as soon as the situation had calmed down, not wanting to stick around in case someone else went berserk.  
  
Chris abruptly turned around and started to leave the waiting room. Confused, Jill started to follow him, only to be stopped.  
  
"Please Jill...just let me do this alone..." he said quietly as he held her hands with his own.  
  
"But Chris! If you fight against Wesker alone he'll kill you!" she said back to him, fear in her voice, "I don't want to lose you..."  
  
"I'm not going to fight him alone Jill...I'm not even going to fight him yet.." he replied as he put his right hand against her cheek.  
  
"What are you going to do then...?" she said as she looked into his eyes, her face blushing slightly from his hand touching her cheek.  
  
He looked at her solemnly as he gave her a small, sad smile that broke her heart to see.  
  
"I'm going to say goodbye to Claire before I get revenge..." he said quietly, as he left the waiting room and proceeded towards where Claire's body was...  
  
  
  
-End of Chapter Fifteen-  
  
  
  
I hope this chapter was able to reflect how a group of people feel after a loved one, like Claire Redfield, dies...  
  
And don't worry, Chris will get to use some guns soon, just in case some of you want that action-revenge stuff...in this chapter I tried to capture the emotion that he must be feeling after losing his sister....  
  
As with every chapter of "Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You...", please rate and review and tell me what you think... 


	15. Her Last Breath

Author's Note: Yeah, I'm attempting to make the "author's note" part of each chapter relatively smaller, so that you the fans get to have more nice material to read and then review about, to either flame or praise the chapter. Hopefully it'll be the second one...  
  
" " denote speech, while ' ' denote thoughts.  
  
Finally, thank you for all the reviews so far! I appreciate every new reader and every new review! I anxiously await more reviews, as they are my inspiration for writing...*nudge nudge* Again, thanks for all the reviews!   
  
Anyways, on with the rather somber chapter...  
  
  
  
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -  
-By Brian Marcelo-  
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-  
Rated R for death...  
  
  
  
-Her Last Breath...-  
-Chapter Fourteen-  
  
  
  
-Downtown Paris Hospital, 1:00 PM-  
  
  
  
"Claire? Claire...? Can you hear me...?" whispered Leon, his head bent down close to Claire's, desperation in his voice as he, Chris, and Steve helped the hospital workers move the stretcher faster into the emergency room.  
  
Everything was a big blur to Claire as she struggled to see what was happening around her. Her vision was blurry, her sense of sound heightened slightly, and she felt like she was exhausted.  
  
As her senses started coming back, the first thing she noticed was a sharp pain in her abdomen, which was getting increasingly worse.  
  
"Claire! Just hold on, okay...? Please sis...hold on..." said her brother Chris, who was looking into her eyes with something she had rarely seen before.  
  
'Fear...?' she thought to herself, her mind in a daze, and only getting worse.  
  
Claire was confused...her brother Chris was never afraid. The only times she had seen that look in his eyes was when she had almost hurt herself when falling out of their tree house when she was seven, when she had her first motorcycle ride when she was 16, and when he had seen Wesker take her hostage after Chris had defeated Alexia.  
  
This was different though...the look of fear in his eyes was scaring Claire...it was so much more intense then she had ever seen before.  
  
"She's lost a lot of blood...what the hell happened to her?" asked a doctor, with a heavy French accent, that happened to be running beside the stretcher.  
  
"She...she was stabbed in her abdomen with a knife..." replied Steve meekly, as he helped bring the stretcher to the emergency room.  
  
Claire suddenly remembered what had happened to her before she had become unconscious.  
  
She and Chris were trying to rescue Steve from Wesker...then...words were exchanged...then the next thing she knew, she could see fear in her brother's eyes...right before Wesker got out the combat knife and proceeded to deeply stab her abdomen multiple times, which was painful enough to render her unconscious.  
  
Claire had no idea what happened after that, except for one thing.  
  
Steve Burnside was with her. They had managed to save him; how, she didn't care at the moment...just him being safe was good enough for her.  
  
'Steve...see...I told you I'd save you...' she thought to herself, wanting to smile but having the strength to do so.  
  
"Claire...please don't die on me..." Leon whispered to her again, his eyes looking softly down on Claire.  
  
'Why is Leon so worried...? Please Leon...don't worry about me...I'm sure I'll be fine...' she thought to herself, too weak to actually say the words aloud.  
  
"Claire...just hold on...please...I don't want to lose you..." whispered Leon, who was pleading with her to hold on.  
  
'Leon...?' thought Claire to herself, becoming more confused with Leon's behavior.  
  
"How many times did she get stabbed?" asked the doctor again, who looked mortified, "The wound is very deep...someone would have to have incredible strength to make a wound like this...."  
  
"It was...this guy...I don't know..." replied Steve, not sure if saying it was Wesker would do any good.  
  
"Come on Claire...you can beat this...come on kid sister..." said Chris, his eyes starting to water as Claire looked back at him, "I'll get Wesker back for what he did to you, Claire...I promise..."  
  
'Not if I get to him first bro...' she though to herself angrily, as the pain in her abdomen increased with every breath she took.  
  
"Claire...I'm so sorry...this is all my fault...just hang on...we're almost to the emergency room...okay Claire...?"  
  
'Steve...if you can come back to life, I'm sure the doctors will be able to fix me up in no time...' Claire thought to herself again, frustrated that she wasn't able to say the words aloud.  
  
Her senses began to heighten, as the pain in her abdomen grew worse. Her sense of things around her heightened to the point where light was blinding and sound was way too loud.  
  
"What's happening...?" she managed to squeak out, as the stretcher got closer to the emergency room.  
  
"Claire! Claire...try not to exert your energy..." Leon said in surprise, thinking she was unable to speak just a few minutes ago, "Please Claire...just lie still..."  
  
"Leon...?" she whispered quietly to him, trying her best to not exert too much energy, "I'll be fine...don't worry about me...please...?"  
  
"Claire...I...how can I not worry about you...?" Leon whispered to her, as he bent his head slightly down towards her.  
  
Claire blinked her eyes in surprise.  
  
Leon, thinking this might be his last chance to say how he felt about Claire, decided that he'd just blurt it all out.  
  
"Claire...?" he asked meekly, trying to grab her attention for a second.  
  
"Leon...?" she replied back, the pain increasing every second.  
  
"I...I love you Claire..." Leon whispered, stuttering and slightly blushing.  
  
Claire became silent as she blinked her eyes several times, shocked at what the rookie cop had just told her.  
  
'Leon...? Leon...in love...with me...?' she thought to herself, her thoughts and feelings getting hazy as the pain was beginning to overwhelm her senses again, 'Oh God...not now...not now...I...I....'  
  
"We've reached the emergency room! Please, doctors and nurses only! I'm sorry, but everyone else, please wait in the waiting room!" said the doctor in his heavy French accent, as he pointed towards the waiting room.  
  
Deciding it was best to let the doctors do their work, Chris left to go back to the waiting room, followed by Steve. Leon stayed near the doors a little longer, the fear of losing Claire becoming worse every second she wasn't being treated  
  
"Leon..." Claire whispered, just loud enough to make Leon look back, fear evident in his features. She gazed at him as long as she could before her senses were heightened thanks to the unbearable pain in her abdomen, making the light blindingly bright to her sensitive eyes.  
  
  
  
-Hospital Waiting Room, 1:07 PM-  
  
  
  
"From how the doctor reacted when he saw the knife wound, it doesn't look too good...." said Chris solemnly, as he sat down beside Jill and put his head in his hands, "It's all my fault...I never should have brought her along with me..."  
  
"Chris...it's not your fault..." Jill said softly as she put her arm around her partner, "She...she was doing what she believed was right...she was saving a friend..."  
  
"I...Jill...it's...I...." said Chris, as he tried to pin the blame on himself again.  
  
"Jill's right...don't blame yourself...blame Wesker..." said Carlos solemnly, feeling sorry for the Redfield, "Wesker is the one to blame for all of this..."  
  
"Wesker..." said Chris angrily, "I'm going to kill him.... I'm going to kill him for he did to my sister!"  
  
"Chris...please...try to stay calm..." said a shaky Rebecca, "We have to stay calm..."  
  
"I'm going to kill Wesker...I don't care what happens to me...as long as I get that bastard..." said Chris through clenched teeth, as he banged his fist against a wall in a rage.  
  
Steve leaned against a wall, his head down slightly, not sure of what to say or do. The only thing on his mind was Claire...how it was his fault that she was in the emergency room...  
  
"All my fault..." he said quietly to himself, as he closed his eyes tight so that his tears wouldn't be evident.  
  
  
  
-H.C.F. Parking Lot, 1:09 PM-  
  
  
  
Ada Wong wiped the blood off her hands with a towel as she entered her car, wishing that those idiotic scientists hadn't put up such a fight.  
  
"They should've known not to mess with me..." she said, sighing a bit at the bloodstains that were on her clothing.  
  
About an hour ago Wesker had asked her to recover a sample of the stable T-Veronica virus that was in the H.C.F. Lab; why, she didn't know, but she followed orders from him anyways, even though she was forced to kill the two scientists that had been working on Steve and the T-Veronica virus the whole time. She didn't enjoy killing, but sometimes it was necessary in her line of work.  
  
As she drove out of the parking lot, her mind wandered away from Wesker and the T-Veronica virus, instead going towards Leon S. Kennedy.  
  
"Why can't I get that kid out of my head?" she said to herself angrily, "I don't feel any love anymore...all there is to my life is my work."  
  
Sighing, she took out the small vial that contained a sample of the T-Veronica virus and looked at it a closely, hoping it would take her mind off that rookie cop.  
  
"It's funny how the end of the world can literally be in your palm...heh...I wonder what Wesker plans on using it for..." she mused, as she put the vial carefully back in her jacket pocket and proceeded towards the coordinates that Wesker said to meet him at.  
  
  
  
-Umbrella Lab Area, 1:15 PM-  
  
  
  
"About to send out the new Nemesis prototype, eh Greg?" asked a scientist causally.  
  
"Yes..." replied Greg Jones, who was looking over a large tube that read "NE-T 102-B", "This new variant of the Nemesis is the perfect predator...I simply cannot wait to release it..."  
  
"Aren't the new blue tinted Tyrants that we've been testing out far superior?" asked the scientist with a confused look on his face, "Why bother using inferior products?"  
  
"You fool! The Nemesis is the most intelligent Tyrant variant we've ever created...it's smarter, faster, tougher, and more aggressive then those new Tyrants...the Nemesis can even fire a Rocket Launcher..." said Greg, his voice filled with pride over the Nemesis, which he had helped create, "Grr...why do so many people have to bother me with such silly questions? First it was that Agent Hunk, and now it's you...."  
  
"Sure man...say, isn't it time now to send out the Nemesis?" said the scientist, who was tired of hearing Greg go on and on about that damned Nemesis.  
  
"Why yes it is." replied Greg with a wide grin on his face, "Computer, activate Project: Nemesis-B..."  
  
"Project: Nemesis-B...activated." replied the cold mechanical voice of the computer, as the tube opened up to reveal a familiar face...  
  
  
  
-Hospital Waiting Room, 1:30 PM-  
  
  
  
Leon paced back and forth in the small waiting room, anxiously awaiting the doctor, wondering whether they'd be receiving good news or...bad news.  
  
He felt kind of foolish after thinking about how he had blurted out that he was in love with Claire. From the look of surprise on her face, it had seemed that she was mortified...or that could've been her being in pain at the time, either way, Leon had no way of knowing what her real reaction was until she was well enough to speak.  
  
'Unless she doesn't get well...then...then....sigh....' Leon thought to himself, trying desperately not to think negative thoughts, 'I...I know I have a tendency to rush when it comes to love...but I really do think....no....I feel something more then friendship with Claire...'  
  
Chris had finally managed to calm down, somewhat, except that now he was absolutely quiet. At the moment he was looking through his wallet...where he had kept his R.P.D. ID and his S.T.A.R.S. badge...as well as many pictures of his sister and himself. He kept looking at each one for a long while before moving on to the next one, which was making Jill worry heavily about him.  
  
"This one." he suddenly said, breaking the awkward silence that had filled the room as he pointed to a picture, "This one was where Claire had scrapped her knee and then I bandaged it....our dad took this picture..."  
  
"You've always been such a good brother to Claire..." Jill said quietly as she gave Chris as soft smile.  
  
"I always wanted to make sure she was okay...after all...she was my kid sister...I had to protect her..." Chris said, sounding as if he'd break down any second now.  
  
"I'm sure she'll make it, Chris...we just have to have faith..." Barry said, as he leaned against the wall.  
  
"I hope you're right Barry...I hope..." replied Chris, as he kept looking at the pictures of his sister.  
  
  
  
-Hospital Emergency Room, 1:35 PM-  
  
  
  
"Damn! We're losing her fast!" shouted one doctor as he tried to stabilize Claire's condition.  
  
'I'm being operated on...' she thought to herself, 'I can't see them, but I can hear them...'  
  
"The wound is simply too large and too deep! We simply can't operate on something like that..." replied another doctor.  
  
'What..? I...it's just a stab wound! What are you talking about?!' thought Claire to herself, her mind becoming frantic.  
  
'It can't end this way...I...I just saved Steve...and...Leon...he...he's...Leon in love with me....it....it can't end this way!' she thought to herself, as she struggled to hold on to her life, which was fading fast.  
  
"Doctor! She's loosing blood at a rapid rate...we have to do something fast!" shouted a nurse, who was checking Claire's vitals.  
  
'No...I have to hold on! I need to tell Steve and...Leon...how I feel...!' Claire thought to herself, as she struggled to move, only to realize she couldn't move a thing, 'No...God no...I can't leave Leon hanging...I...Leon.....'  
  
"I won't give up on this girl!" the doctor said, as he kept on operating frantically on Claire, hoping to somehow revive her and seal the wound.  
  
Claire's mind went hazy again, as she started to die from the wound that hadn't been healed for over an hour now. The excessive blood lost and shock to her system was simply too much to take for her. She slowly started slipping in and out of consciousness, not sure what was reality and what wasn't.  
  
'Saved you...Steve...I saved you...' she thought to herself, as she quickly started to fade, 'And Leon...I...I think...I love you too......'  
  
"Doctor! She's starting to breath!" the nurse exclaimed in surprise as she pointed to Claire, who took a deep breathe....  
  
'My last breath....' she thought to herself sadly, as she slowly realized it was the end for her...  
  
Everyone in the room tensed up for a second, wondering if she was still alive. After a few seconds, the doctor sighed and stopped operating on Claire.  
  
"That was her...last breath I'm afraid......." he said sadly, as he reluctantly walked out of the emergency room to bring the bad news to Chris and the others...  
  
She had survived the horror in Raccoon City, and had met Leon Kennedy and saved Sherry Birkin...  
  
She had then infiltrated the very head quarters of Umbrella in search of her brother Chris, only to be captured and sent to Rockfort Island, where she met Steve Burnside...  
  
Then she had been captured again by Alexia Ashford in Antarctica, only to be saved by the very person she was looking for, Chris Redfield...together they had escaped and had met up with everyone else who wanted to take down Umbrella...  
  
After saving Steve Burnside from the clutches of Wesker, she had been stabbed multiple times by Wesker, to the point where surgery was useless...  
  
Now...Claire Redfield was dead...  
  
  
  
-End of Chapter Fourteen-  
  
  
  
Goodbye Claire...  
  
This chapter was appropriately named after the Phantasy Star IV song "Her Last Breath", which was played when Alys had died from the Black Wave...  
  
I hope I was able to capture the drama of how it's like when someone's about to have their last breath....  
  
As usual, please rate and review this chapter and tell me what you thought about it... 


	16. Birth Of A God

Author's Note: Yeah, I'm attempting to make the "author's note" part of each chapter relatively smaller, so that you the fans get to have more nice material to read and then review about, to either flame or praise the chapter. Hopefully it'll be the second one...  
  
" " denote speech, while ' ' denote thoughts.  
  
Finally, thank you for all the reviews so far! I appreciate every new reader and every new review! I anxiously await more reviews, as they are my inspiration for writing...*nudge nudge* Again, thanks for all the reviews! Thank you all so very much! I can't wait for the next batch of reviews!   
  
Also, I'm thinking of changing the summary every time a new chapter is introduced, so that you'll know it's new...  
  
Anyways, on with the chapter...  
  
  
  
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -  
-By Brian Marcelo-  
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-  
Rated R.  
  
  
  
-Birth Of A God-  
-Chapter Sixteen-  
  
  
  
-Wesker's Hiding Place in Paris, which is an abandoned church 1:41 PM-  
  
  
  
"So what are you going to do with the virus Wesker?" asked Ada Wong, wondering what his intentions were.  
  
"Tell me Ada, have you read those reports about what the Miracle Virus is capable of doing?" Wesker suddenly asked, as he eyed the T-Veronica virus sample, "You know, those reports they made when they were testing your blood for the virus?"  
  
"Yeah, they said something about it allowing certain substances to stabilize when mixed together..." she answered back, recalling what she had read in those reports, "What does that have to do with the T-Veronica virus?"  
  
He tilted his dark sunglasses at Ada as he broke his gaze off the virus sample and focused on her, with a smile evident on his face.  
  
"You know how I used to work at Umbrella as a researcher, right?" he asked her suddenly, as he walked closer to Ada, which made her feel slightly uncomfortable. She nodded her head, slowly getting annoyed with Wesker for not answering her questions.  
  
"Well, I've theorized that if the Miracle virus that runs in my blood can bring me back to life, then perhaps it'll be able to speed up the process of the T-Veronica virus and stabilize it..." he said, as held the virus sample in his hand and looked at it.  
  
"Are you saying that you're going to use the virus on yourself?" Ada said in disbelief.  
  
"I've always lusted for power, Ms. Wong...when William Birkin gave me a sample of the Miracle virus, I was almost looking forward to dying because once I woke up, I would have incredible strength and speed...I thought it was true power at the time." remarked Wesker, as he took off his black sunglasses, revealing his yellow pupils.  
  
"But then I once again lusted for power when I saw what Alexia Ashford was truly capable of...she was literally power...she was actually able to harm me with a mere slap of her hand..." he said, cringing at the painful memory.  
  
"However, thanks to Mr. Burnside, I now have the chance to have power just like Alexia Ashford's...I have an O blood type unlike her blood type...and I have the Miracle virus to stabilize the T-Veronica virus and speed up the 15 year process to mere seconds..." said Wesker, as he took off the cap on the vial and gave her an odd look.  
  
"Tell me Ada...would you like to see how a god is born...?" he said to her, as he looked into her similarly yellow-colored eyes.  
  
  
  
-Hospital Emergency Room, 1:42 PM-  
  
  
  
"Claire..." whispered Chris, as he entered the room where her body had been operated on.   
  
Chris wasn't a big fan of hospitals, seeing as how his mother had died in one due to a fatal disease a few years ago. Every time he and Claire would visit they would get bad news about their mom's condition failing from the doctors, who were struggling to find some type of cure for her. He could still remember her last request from her...  
  
"Promise me you'll protect your sister..." she had asked him, her voice soft and in obvious pain.  
  
"I promise..." he had said back, holding her hand gently while stroking her hair.  
  
"Oh mom....first dad...and now you...?" Claire had said with tears in her eyes, as she held on to her mom tightly.  
  
And then she had died...at least, Chris thought, that her mom died the way she would've liked to, with her two kids that she loved so much, plus, she was now able to reunite with the man that she loved...  
  
Chris snapped back into the present as his eyes darted over to Claire.  
  
"Claire..." he whispered once again, as he came closer to her. Her expression looked peaceful, yet he knew deep down that she was afraid in her final seconds. She had once been so active and full of life...and now she was on an operating table, with the life ripped right out of her so violently by Wesker...  
  
"I'm sorry Claire..." he said solemnly, as he stroked her hair gently, "I...I wasn't able to keep my promise this time..."  
  
He stopped talking for a few minutes, still gently stroking her hair, wishing that this were just another horrible nightmare...  
  
But it wasn't...the mansion...Rockfort Island...Antarctica...Umbrella...they weren't just simple nightmares to wake up from...it was all too real...  
  
And sadly, this was just like all those things...another nightmare that was reality...  
  
"Claire...please tell mom and dad that I'm sorry..." he said, feeling horrible inside but trying his best to keep it there, "I know I wasn't able to keep my promise to mom...but I promise you Claire...I promise that I'll avenge your death...I'm going to make Wesker pay for taking you away from me..."  
  
And with that, he gave his sister a small kiss on her forehead, like how he used to when she was small and was afraid of going to sleep alone, and left the room, seeking revenge...  
  
  
  
-Hospital Waiting Room, 1:43 PM-  
  
  
  
Leon Kennedy sat down, silently cursing himself for blowing up like that. He hadn't meant all those things he had said to Steve, he was merely acting out of distraught over Claire's death...  
  
'Claire....' he thought to himself, 'Why did you have to die...? Why did you die...?'  
  
Leon had only known Wesker personally for a few minutes during the rescue attempt to save Steve, but during those tense seconds when they were face to face, he hated Wesker more then anything in his whole life for harming the woman he loved. Wesker had reminded him of that Mr. X that he had fought, minus the claws and blank expression. Both had killed women he loved, both had incredible power and strength, and both were pure evil...  
  
'First Ada...now you, Claire...' he thought to himself sadly as he looked at his R.P.D. uniform that he was wearing in disgust, 'Serve and protect...sigh...I'm a cop and I wasn't able to save the woman that I love...'  
  
"Hey there..." said a quiet voice that had come from someone who had decided to sit right now to him. Turning around to see who it was, he was surprised to see Rebecca Chambers, the young medic who had also decided to share a room with Leon.  
  
"Hi there..." he said, trying to be polite, especially after that outburst he had a few minutes ago.  
  
"I hope you're not blaming yourself for this Leon..." she said quietly, as she looked into his eyes.  
  
"Why not...? I could've...stopped Wesker if I had just aimed better..." he said as he hung his head slightly low.  
  
"You did the best you could...we'll get revenge on Wesker..." she said, her expression unusually serious.  
  
"It won't bring Claire back though...." he replied, as he averted his eyes from Rebecca to hide the slight moistness that was developing in his eyes, "Nothing we do will ever bring Claire back..."  
  
Rebecca sighed quietly as she put her hand on his shoulder, which startled him slightly. She shifted her head to look into his eyes and noticed the tears forming.  
  
"It's okay to cry..." Rebecca whispered to him, as she tried her best to comfort her friend.  
  
Carlos Oliviera decided that all the depression in the room was too much for him to handle, so he decided to get some fresh air when he noticed that Jill hadn't done anything after Chris had left to say goodbye to his sister. Thinking that she might need some fresh air, he walked over to her.  
  
"Hey there..." he said quietly, "You look like you need some fresh air...why don't we got outside?"  
  
Feeling heartbroken after seeing her partner Chris in so much pain, she decided it would be a good idea to join Carlos.   
  
She simply nodded and led the way outside of the hospital, with Carlos a respectable distance away.  
  
  
  
-Umbrella Pharmaceutical Headquarters, 1:46 PM-  
  
  
  
"Do you have an appointment ma'am?" asked the secretary, who was chewing gum loudly.  
  
"I am Alexia Ashford, proud descendant of the Ashford family." Alexia said proudly.  
  
"Okay then, Ms. Ashford, do you have an appointment to see the president?' the secretary asked again in a bored voice.  
  
"I am Alexia Ashford! Is that not enough for you?" Alexia said irritably, getting annoyed with the secretary.  
  
The secretary looked at her with a bored look and picked up the telephone.  
  
"Hey Mr. Prez...there's some Alexia Ashford person who's come to see you..." the secretary mumbled into the receiver.  
  
Immediately Alexia noticed loud yelling on the other side of the line, which meant that the president must've been absolutely exasperated.   
  
"Yes sir...yes sir she's standing right here...what was that sir?...yes...no...yes...yes...okay sir..." the secretary said nervously into the phone, and then put it down.  
  
"I'm terribly sorry Ms. Ashford! He's in his office and will see you right now!" said the secretary, whose eyes were wide open in shock and surprise.  
  
"That's better." Alexia said haughtily, as she entered the office of the President of Umbrella...  
  
  
  
-Abandoned Church, 1:47 PM-  
  
  
  
Ada's jaw dropped as she slowly backed away, the sight before her incredible...  
  
Wesker had just ingested the T-Veronica virus a few seconds ago, and what was happening was remarkable. At first blood had started to pour out of his neck, and he had started convulsing violently, which Ada thought meant his theory was horribly wrong. Then however, his whole body was enveloped in flames, which made her back away, starting to get freaked out. The flames had burned off his uniform right off, which made her cover her eyes.   
  
She may have been a seductive spy, but she was sort of modest.  
  
After she had opened her eyes, Wesker was standing before her, his skin a dull gray color and covered in some places, as if he was wearing a suit of bio-armor.  
  
"Whoa." was all she could say, as she moved closer to him, wondering if he could still talk or had been turned into a monster.  
  
"I feel pure energy flowing throughout my veins...I now have true power..." he said, sounding high and mighty, as if he were a king, "How do you feel now that you've seen the birth of a god...?"  
  
"I gotta say, I'm impressed Wesker..." said Ada as she regained her cool composure, "So what can you do?"  
  
Without a word, Wesker waved his hand and blood flew out, which quickly caught on fire.  
  
"Whoa." Ada said, as her jaw dropped again.  
  
"That's only one of my many abilities..." Wesker said proudly, as he looked at his hand, which was human a few minutes ago.  
  
"I've lost nearly all traces of my humanity..." he said, as if he missed it a bit, "But now...I've evolved into a God..."  
  
Ada nervously nodded in agreement, even though she thought he was starting to sound little crazy.  
  
"What is our next move Wesker?" she asked, wondering what he'd do with his new set of abilities.  
  
"First we're going to take revenge…" he said, as his hand was on fire, "On those pathetic S.T.A.R.S. and Umbrella…"  
  
"Umbrella…? Are you crazy Wesker?!" she said while being a bit confused, "Don't you remember that Umbrella is a company and not a single person? They have hundreds of guards, not to mention B.O.W.!"  
  
He merely smiled at her as if he didn't hear her, which greatly pissed her off, as she did not want to attempt a suicide mission, especially one that H.C.F. could bust her for.  
  
"Time to finish my revenge on Chris Redfield...and Alexia Ashford..." he whispered sadistically to himself, as his body was totally enveloped with fire, which made Ada back away to avoid being burned...  
  
  
  
-End of Chapter Sixteen-  
  
  
  
Sorry for having this chapter so short, but I have tons of homework due tomorrow since my vacation is ending. I hope you liked the chapter though!  
  
I really hope the idea of Wesker becoming like Alexia Ashford power-wise isn't too far fetched for you guys, cause that would really suck for me, heh heh....*sweatdrop*  
  
Again thank you to all those who have reviewed and those who are going to review this! I really appreciate feedback! It helps me make the story more interesting (hopefully)!  
  
As usual, please rate and review! I love getting feedback from you guys! 


	17. The Predator

Author's Note: Yeah, I'm attempting to make the "author's note" part of each chapter relatively small, so that you the fans get to have more nice material to read and then review about, to either flame or praise the chapter. Hopefully it'll be the second one...  
  
Thanks goes to all my reviewers so far! I value each of your opinions very much, and I hope that I'm meeting up to your expectations! Hopefully you'll review more often for this story so that you can tell me what you thought about it, what I might want to change, or spelling errors and such. Again, thanks once again to my reviewers!   
  
I'm going to triple space whenever the setting changes, instead of double spacing. Also, I took out the time thingy, cause it was getting in the way of things.  
  
If you want to see what I'm working on at the moment, remember to check my profile; at the end of my profile you'll see my current progress for the day and what I'm working on at the moment.  
  
Finally, I'm currently testing out whether I should put updated summaries for this particular fan fic...either I'm going leave it as the original summary or an updated one every time I make a new chapter...it all depends on what you, the readers, think.  
  
Anyways, on with the action-packed chapter...  
  
  
  
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -  
-By Brian Marcelo-  
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-  
Rated R for language, violence, and guns. Lots of guns.  
  
  
  
-The Predator-  
-Chapter Seventeen-  
  
  
  
-Umbrella Pharmaceutical Headquarters, President's Office-  
  
  
  
"Welcome to Umbrella's Main Headquarters..." greeted the President, as he eased himself into his black leather chair, "It's truly an honor to finally meet you Ms. Ashford..."  
  
"The honor is all mine, Mr...?" she asked gracefully while taking a seat.  
  
"Mr. Hanson." he said, finishing her sentence, "I'm sure the last name sounds familiar to your family line, yes?"  
  
She nodded, remembering that the Hanson family had helped establish Umbrella along with the Ashford family and other founding members.  
  
"My, you sure have aged quite gracefully for the past 15 years you've been gone, Ms. Ashford...tell me, how did you manage to survive?" he asked, as he reclined in his leather chair and took out a cigar.  
  
"Cold stasis." she replied simply, "I was conducting an experiment with the T-Virus and-."  
  
"Ah yes, you do mean the T-Veronica virus, right?" he interrupted, as he lit the cigar with a lighter.  
  
"How did you know...?" she gasped, quite shocked that her secret virus might possibly be company knowledge, "Who told you...?"  
  
"We had received word of the T-Veronica virus after your supposed death. Also, our 'friends' at H.C.F. managed to find a sample of the T-Veronica virus in Steven Burnside, a former prisoner of Rockfort Island. I assume you had operated on him while in Antarctica, correct?" he said in that same casual voice, which was a bit unsettling for even Alexia Ashford.  
  
"Yes, I had." she said, trying not to reveal any other secrets that she had, just in case.  
  
"I see." he replied, as he inhaled a few puffs of cigar smoke, "Tell me, Ms. Ashford, why did you not tell us about your T-Veronica virus that you had been working on?"  
  
Waving away the smoke from her face, she replied, with a slight smile, "It was top secret. I wanted to test it thoroughly before I presented my research, Mr. Hanson."  
  
Of course, that was a complete lie, as Alexia Ashford's real intentions were to infect the whole world with her spores, so that they may become her "worker ants" and serve her, the perfect "Queen Ant" of the colony.  
  
The President looked at her for a few moments, trying to see if she was hiding something behind that overly simplistic answer that she had given him.   
  
"I see." he remarked a bit suspiciously, "It is quite too bad that we were not informed of the details of the T-Veronica virus until 15 years later when you have finally returned to us, like an angel sent from above."  
  
She smirked a bit at the last thing he said, as she was hardly an angel.  
  
Taking a few more drags on his cigar before putting it out, he eased himself out of his chair and offered his hand to Alexia, while saying, "Would you like to take a tour of the lab facilities we have here, Ms. Ashford? Despite the fact that you were in 15 years of cold stasis, you're still one of her top researchers and I'm sure you'd love to see how far we've advanced in the past 15 years..."  
  
"I'd love to see what you're researchers are working on..." she said, while forcing a small smile as she and the President walked out of the office and towards the lab facility.  
  
  
  
-Hospital Waiting Room-  
  
  
  
"Chris..." exclaimed Rebecca quietly, as she got up from her chair as he entered the room.  
  
"Where's Jill?" he said quietly, as his eyes scanned the room, "And where's Carlos..?"  
  
"They just went to get some fresh air Chris, nothing to worry about." Barry said, as he walked over to his friend, "I'm sorry for all that's happened, Chris..."  
  
"We don't have any more time to mourn, Barry...it's time we get back at Wesker for all the shit he's done to us..." said Chris, with a touch of anger and sadness in his voice, "He's killed our teammates...those were our friends...he was our damn captain and he betrayed all of us...all for combat data...simple combat data..."  
  
"And now he's done it...he's crossed a line that he should never have passed..." he said, closing his eyes as he clenched his fists tightly together, "I'll make sure he pays for what he's done to everyone's lives that he's ruined or completely destroyed..."  
  
"We're all behind you in this, Chris..." Steve said, "Especially me-"  
  
"And me." Leon said, as he got up from his chair, "We're all behind you on this one Chris...we'll help you the best we can...right guys?"  
  
"Right!" Rebecca chimed in, hoping to lighten the intense seriousness.   
  
"Thank you, all of you..." he said as he looked around the room, smiling weakly, trying his best to keep his feelings in check.  
  
  
  
-Outside The Hospital-  
  
  
  
"You okay there Jill?" said Carlos, as he looked at her with worried eyes.  
  
"I'm fine...just a little shaken up about everything..." she said with a forced smile.  
  
Carlos frowned as he leaned against the van, wishing she wouldn't put on a mask just to hide the pain and fear she was no doubt feeling.  
  
'If only I could do something...some friend I am...' he thought to himself, as he checked his assault rifle, 'I shouldn't be so paranoid...I keep checking this assault rifle as if monsters are all around us again, like in Raccoon City...'  
  
Jill hugged her arms as she too leaned against the van, wondering once again how everything just went to hell so quickly.   
  
"Hey...I think the others are waiting for us Jill...we should probably get back to them..." he said with a worried look on his face, "I'm sure that you'll be able to comfort Chris the most during this difficult time..."  
  
She looked at him with a puzzled expression and asked, "Why would I be the one who'd be able to comfort him the most?"  
  
He chuckled a little. "Because he obviously cares about you deeply enough to be looking quite jealous when you were talking about me to him back in the hotel."  
  
Jill blushed as her jaw slightly dropped in shock. First of all, the thought of Chris being jealous about Carlos had never crossed her mind, the second thing was how Carlos managed to overhear the conversation, and third, how yet another person knew that Chris liked her before she knew.  
  
"You really think I'd be able to comfort him?" she asked, with a slight smile.  
  
"I'm sure of it Jill," he said, returning the smile, "After all, he loves-"  
  
Without warning, they heard something sounding like loud footsteps coming their way, from what direction, they didn't know. Jill quickly upholstered her Western Custom shotgun that she had been carrying on her back, while Carlos took the safety off his Assault Rifle and set it on auto.  
  
"Did you hear that...?" she whispered, as she went into a defensive position, waiting to hear the noise again.  
  
"Could it be Wesker...?" he asked, as his eyes surveyed the relatively sunny area, which should've made it easy to see anything coming their way.  
  
"No...it sounds bigger..." she whispered, gesturing for him to keep his voice down.  
  
To Jill's horror, the thing in question that was making the loud footsteps appeared slowly out from a pair of rather large cars that had obscured her vision, the predator groaning a phrase that she had thought she would never have to hear again.  
  
"S.T.A.R.S..." it groaned inhumanly as it advanced towards Jill and Carlos, the only word in its vocabulary a clear warning to whom it was after.  
  
They had no idea of knowing at the moment, but Umbrella knew that they were in Paris, and had sent the Nemesis-B, a second version of the original Nemesis, after them to test out it's enhanced abilities, as well as take out two dangerous people to their company.  
  
Carlos' eyes widened as he stepped back in fear, not wanting to believe what was in front of him and Jill.  
  
It was the exact same creature that had stalked Jill Valentine throughout Raccoon City, the very same creature that had killed Mikhail Victor, the same creature that had tried to kill him...  
  
The Nemesis was back, in Paris, and was advancing slowly towards them.  
  
"Jill..." Carlos whispered, fear obvious in his voice, "We have to get help..."  
  
"Right..." she whispered back, as she gripped her Western Custom shotgun in fear, especially since she hadn't done any fighting after narrowly escaping from Raccoon City with Carlos and Barry before it was completely obliterated off the face of the earth.  
  
"We have to run back into the hospital and get the others..." he said as he gestured to the building, "I'm sure they still have their weapons with them...on the count of three we make a run for it..."  
  
"Right..." she whispered back, her eyes locked firmly on the Nemesis as if to tell it to stay back or get a fistful of lead.  
  
"S.T.A.R.S..." it groaned loudly again, getting slowly closer to Jill and Carlos with every step it made.  
  
"One..." he said slowly, as he looked at Jill.  
  
"Two..." she said slowly, as she looked back at him.  
  
"Three!" they yelled in unison, as they started running towards the hospital.  
  
"S.T.A.R.S!" screamed the Nemesis, as it started running after them with the same incredible speed that had made escaping unusually impossible when they were being stalked throughout Raccoon City.  
  
"Keep running Jill!" he managed to shout out as he ran as fast as his legs could carry him, "Don't look back!"  
  
Jill kept on running beside Carlos, hoping that the Nemesis was too far behind them to manage to grab on to them.  
  
'Please don't let him be right behind us...please don't let him be behind us...' she thought to herself desperately as she kept on running, hoping for some kind of miracle to occur.  
  
"Jill!" shouted Carlos painfully, as he was suddenly knocked back a few feet away from her by the Nemesis, who had savagely punched him.  
  
"Carlos? Carlos!" she screamed, worried that her friend might have been seriously injured.   
  
"S.T.A.R.S...." screamed the Nemesis savagely, as it started going after Jill, wanting to end her life as painfully as it could.  
  
Jill stared at the nightmare that was fast approaching, her fear starting to overcome her.  
  
'It...can't end this way!' she thought to herself frantically as her eyes widened in fear, 'I have to keep on running! I have to escape!'  
  
She kept on running towards the hospital, her mind not allowing her to worry about Carlos condition as her survival instincts took control of her.  
  
'Gotta keep going...' she told herself, as she kept running, the monster right behind her.  
  
"I have to -"  
  
"S.T.A.R.S..." moaned the Nemesis, as it grabbed Jill by the back of her neck so fast that she was still trying to run.  
  
It turned her around so that it could look at the expression on her face, it's little brain curious as to why it bothered to struggle against it.  
  
"No...! I was so close to the hospital...no...no!' she thought to herself, as she struggled desperately against the Nemesis' hold on her neck, 'It can kill me at anytime with that tentacle...I have to escape before it can use it...'  
  
Noticing her shotgun was still in her hand, she aimed it up slowly at the Nemesis' face.  
  
Smirking a bit despite the intense pressure on her neck, she put her finger on the trigger and whispered, "You want S.T.A.R.S? I'll give you-"  
  
Before she could pull the trigger however, it swiftly smacked the shotgun away from her hands.  
  
Jill's pupils dilated as her only defense against the huge eight-foot tall creature was knocked away from her hands.  
  
"This is it...it's...finally over..." she whispered to herself quietly as she shut her eyes, reluctantly awaiting her release from the world..  
  
The Nemesis taunted her by doing what appeared to be smiling, although it had no lips. Slowly, it put its hand in front of Jill, which produced a tentacle that was ready to get straight through her skull.  
  
*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*   
  
Jill opened her eyes suddenly, wondering why she was hearing handguns and shotguns firing at her general direction only to realize that the hold on her neck was gone, and she was standing on the ground, with the Nemesis a few feet away from her now, being shot at and bleeding heavily.  
  
"Jill! Get out of the way!" yelled a voice she never thought she would hear again. She ran towards the group that had been firing and was handed a Beretta by another familiar face to her.  
  
"S.T.A.R.S!!" it screamed, as its body was being bombarded heavily.  
  
"Go back to hell where you came from!" shouted Leon, as he fired off another blast of shotgun shells.  
  
"No more S.T.A.R.S. for you!" Rebecca said, as she continually kept firing her Custom Beretta at the chest of the Tyrant-look-alike.  
  
"You're going down!" shouted Steve, as he fired a sub-machine gun at the Nemesis with a style that was all his own.  
  
Jill went between Chris and Barry, aiming her Beretta straight at the Nemesis.  
  
"Ready guys?" Chris said, as he put another clip into his Enhanced Glock.  
  
"Ready!" Jill and Barry said, all aiming their handguns, and in Barry's case, a magnum, at the Nemesis's head.  
  
"Fire!" said Chris, as they all simultaneously unloaded their clips into the Nemesis head, making huge bloody holes and causing it to fall to the ground in a heap of blood, filled with hundreds of bullets and shells in literally a minute.  
  
Chris slowly approached the Nemesis, despite the fact that Jill was pleading with him not to, and examined the bullet riddled body.  
  
"I think it's dead..." he said, as he kicked the Nemesis a few times.  
  
"He'll come back to life...he did so many times in Raccoon City..." said Carlos, as he limped over to where everyone was, "That sonofabitch doesn't know when to quit!"  
  
"You're injured...let me take a look at that..." Rebecca said, as she took out her First Aid kit and examined Carlos, which made him slightly blush.  
  
"Well, I think I have an idea on how to dispose of this thing..." Barry said, as he took out his Desert Eagle 50A.E Magnum and pointed it towards the bullet ridden head of the Nemesis, "At least it'll have a huge headache when it decides to wake up..."  
  
*Bam!* *Bam!*  
  
"I think shooting it up a bit more wouldn't hurt." Steve remarked, as he pointed the sub-machine gun towards the head of the Nemesis and fired off a few rounds like Barry.  
  
*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*  
  
"There we go, now it's dead." said Steve slyly, even though it was easy to see he was still quite sad. Leon, who noticed it first, thought it was probably a defense mechanism of his, which was to show off when depressed.  
  
Jill kept looking at the Nemesis, wondering if it would get up despite the fact that nearly every inch of it was filled with bullets. She had burned it, exploded it, bombarded it, and put gallons of acid on it back in Raccoon City, yet that hadn't stopped it. It took two shots from a huge Rail Cannon which was named "Parcelus Sword" and six magnum rounds before it was finally dead.  
  
"Hey, you okay Jill? It didn't hurt you too bad, did it...?" said Chris quietly as he went in front of her and checked her neck closely, "I'm sorry I wasn't able to get here quicker..."  
  
"It's okay Chris..." she said with a light smile as she gave him a hug, "Thanks for saving me..."  
  
As he held Jill in his arms he felt relieved that he had been able to save her and was able to release all the pent up frustration and emotion he had by shooting up the Nemesis. Even though Chris wasn't too fond of violence, it was a good if not slightly sadistic way of releasing his frustrations that he had on Wesker.  
  
While Rebecca was tending to Carlos's wounds and Chris and Jill were embracing, Leon and Barry inspected the body of the Nemesis, just in case.  
  
"Do you think it's dead Leon?" said Barry, as he holstered his magnum back in his vest.  
  
Leon didn't reply; he just kept looking at the body, looking as if he was deeply lost in thought.  
  
"I'll leave you alone for now Leon...just remember, you did the best you could..." Barry said as he put a comforting hand on Leon's shoulder before walking over to Rebecca to assist her with Carlos.  
  
"I'm supposed to serve and protect..." Leon said quietly to himself, as he looked at the lifeless body of the Nemesis, "If only I was quicker...too late now though....I just hope Claire is in a better place then where we are now..."  
  
He paused for a few seconds, hoping that killing the undead didn't automatically put you in hell.  
  
"...I love you Claire...." he said quietly to himself as he looked up at the sky, "I hope you're up there right now, watching over us..."  
  
  
  
-End of Chapter Seventeen-  
  
  
  
From now on, chapters are going to be much bigger, like this one, because too many chapters is a bit overwhelming to read I think.  
  
In Chapter Eighteen Alexia is touring Umbrella's Lab Facilities...and things get a little out of hand.  
  
As usual, please rate and review! I love feedback from you guys! You guys are what keep me going!   
  
Thanks for reading!  
  
Small extra note: I'm now working on the second chapter to "Night On The Town", just in case you're wondering. 


	18. The Fall Of Umbrella

Author's Note: Yeah, I'm attempting to make the "author's note" part of each chapter relatively small, so that you the fans get to have more nice material to read and then review about, to either flame or praise the chapter. Hopefully it'll be the second one...  
  
Also, I decided to take off the author's note as a chapter and add it back again when I'm done with this ficcy. Until then, I thank all my reviewers personally in each chapter! Yay!  
  
So, thanks goes to (In Order of Appearance): Random Echo, Claire Burnside267, a reader, Diddly Day, Zil, Tasha Burnside, Umbrella-Experiment, Parasite Lin, Biohazard 101, Cand, Queen Kristina, Apokruphos, Redfield 99, Yumi Konoe, Chandler01, Lyger, Chicky Tifa, D-2Artemis, Shin, Simon552, Jimbo Jones, claire3407, and Squall Leonhart!  
  
Any new reviewers automatically will be added to the list whenever a new chapter comes out for this story!  
  
Hooray for constantly changing summaries. Oh yeah, the quality level is going to rise up in every chapter starting now, because I thought the last chapter was kind of rushed and felt awkward. Gah, I promise that won't happen again.  
  
On with yet another chapter...  
  
  
  
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -  
-By Brian Marcelo-  
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-  
Rated R for violence.  
  
  
  
-The Fall of Umbrella-  
-Chapter Eighteen-  
  
  
  
-Umbrella Pharmaceutical Headquarters, Lab Facility-  
  
  
  
"What is the repulsive thing over there?" asked Alexia Ashford, as she pointed towards a huge screen showing a trench-coated figure with tentacles on his shoulders.  
  
"That, my dear, is the Nemesis, one of our most powerful bio organic weapons." answered President Hanson, as he gestured for them to both walk towards the computer terminal and the young man behind it.  
  
"Oh?" she replied with a small yawn, "What's so great about it?"  
  
Overhearing what was being said behind him, the young man got out of his chair rather angrily and looked at the young woman dead in the eye.  
  
"The Nemesis is our ultimate bio organic weapon, little miss princess." muttered Greg rather loudly, "It would be in your best interests not to talk so lightly about it."  
  
"Mr. Jones! That is no way to treat-"  
  
"Alexia...Alexia Ashford, Mr. Jones." said Alexia coldly, as she moved closer to Greg, "And it would be in your best interests not to talk back to me again."  
  
Greg backed away slowly, shocked and scared of what stood before him.  
  
"Alexia Ashford..." he whispered in fear, "How...? I thought you had died fifteen years ago..."  
  
"The glory of the Ashford family can never die, Mr. Jones." she said proudly, as she gripped his neck with her hand with surprising strength, "Now, apologize to your Queen, or..."  
  
"What do you mean by Queen...? Or what...?" he said, gasping for air as he tried desperately to pry her hand off his throat   
  
Alexia chuckled as she increased her hold on his neck. "Or die."  
  
"That's enough, Alexia." Mr. Hanson said quietly, as he put his hand on her shoulder, "I think Mr. Jones has learnt has lesson, hasn't he?"  
  
Greg nodded vigorously in agreement as face began to turn a shade of red from lack of air.  
  
"Fine." she said with a simple smile, she threw Greg against the computer terminal and started to walk away towards another part of the lab, "I was getting bored with him anyways."  
  
  
  
-Outside The Hospital-  
  
  
  
Steve Burnside sat on the hood of one of the cars in the area, absently glancing at the now dead Nemesis that Barry was inspecting...  
  
Jill and Chris were still tightly embracing, while Rebecca was tending to Carlos' wounds sustained from the Nemesis...  
  
Leon was standing a few feet away from Steve, holding his shotgun tightly, looking lost in thought, much like him...  
  
Steve hadn't talked very much after Claire had died...he stayed quiet mostly, only showing his sly side when helping them fight off the Nemesis...it was a defense mechanism of his to show off to anyone close by whenever he was hiding something...something painful inside...  
  
  
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."  
  
  
Those words that Steve had once said to her after she was forced to fight with Nosferatu alone was now tearing into him...  
  
  
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."  
  
  
The very thing he had said to Claire was turned backwards when Alexia had taken him and had infected him with her spores that had contained the T-Veronica virus...  
  
  
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."  
  
  
Alexia had twisted his words, because he was forced to fight Claire...the love of his life...he had almost killed her when he transformed into that T-Veronica monster...  
  
  
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."  
  
  
After he had saved her from Alexia's grasp, he was mortally wounded....he had died telling her that he loved her...she had to get out by herself...she had promised they would escape together...but...he had made her break her promise by dying...  
  
  
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."  
  
  
He was brought back to life by the T-Veronica virus inside of him...taken hostage by Wesker, who was working for H.C.F...used as bait to lure Claire and Chris in Paris...  
  
  
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."  
  
  
She had been Wesker's target all along...he had stabbed her brutally...she had died in the hospital shortly after...and he could do nothing but watch her suffer...because of him...  
  
  
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."  
  
  
Now he was forced to be with people he didn't even know...never met them personally, not even Chris, who Claire had mentioned previous times during their adventure...he was stuck with people he didn't know...all he could was put on a mask to hide his pain and agony he was feeling over Claire's death...  
  
  
"I promise I'll protect you next time, Claire..."  
  
  
Those words that he had once said to her was now an example of cruel irony at it's best...forever going to torment him until he too suffered the same fate as his beloved...  
  
"Hey Steve...?" said a voice next to him, a touch of guilt in it's tone.  
  
"Yeah Leon?" he replied monotonously, not bothering to look in the general direction of who he was talking to.  
  
"I'm sorry for the way I acted back in the waiting room. I wasn't thinking..." he said apologetically, feeling truly sorry for being so stupid and irrational.  
  
"You needed someone to blame...it's alright Leon," Steve said as he turned his head towards Leon, "Between you and me, I blame myself too..."  
  
Leon frowned.  
  
"It's Wesker's fault." he said plainly.  
  
"No, Leon..." Steve said with a sad smile, "It's all mine...it's all mine...I broke my promise to Claire..."  
  
While Leon and Steve were talking, Rebecca was busily tending to Carlos using some materials that Barry had got from the hospital.  
  
"Ow! That stings!" Carlos cried out, as she poured a few drops of alcohol on his wounds.  
  
"Haven't you ever heard of the phrase 'what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger'?" she said irritatingly as she struggled to keep Carlos from escaping treatment.  
  
"And have you ever heard the phrase 'get that the hell away from me'?" he retorted, as he struggled to get away from the stinging liquid that was being applied liberally.  
  
"It's kind of sad how Steve, Leon, and Chris are all blaming themselves, huh Carlos...?" Rebecca said suddenly, her expression softening as she looked towards Leon and Steve, who both were talking like friends would talk.  
  
"All three of them are different, yet all of them cared deeply for Claire...and now she's gone..." she said quietly, as she absently used her First Aid Spray on some of his less serious cuts and bruises.  
  
"I think we should really stop wasting time saying sorry....and instead of just going on and on about blaming Wesker, we should hunt that bastard down..." replied Carlos, who quickly closed his eyes in sudden pain at the spray being applied to his cuts and bruises.  
  
"Did you know her personally by the way?" he abruptly asked, "I didn't get the chance to...how about you? Any idea on what she was like?"  
  
"Well, I only met her once...she had come during her spring break to Raccoon City to visit her brother, and one night she got Chris to invite me and Jill over to his apartment, saying something about her cooking dinner. It turns her she had managed to set fire to half his kitchen...needless to say, Chris was mortified."  
  
"Ouch...what happened after that?" he asked, amused at the image of a mortified Chris overlooking his kitchen, half of burnt beyond recognition by his well-meaning sister Claire.  
  
"We all went out for fast food instead, with Chris and Claire trading insults back and forth." Rebecca remembered fondly as she started to bandage up Carlos' arm, "They were clearly inseparable...you could really tell they cared a lot about each other just by the way they argued, you know?"  
  
Carlos chuckled softly. "Makes me wish I had a little sister."  
  
Rebecca finished bandaging up Carlos and smiled gently at him. "Makes me wish I had a big brother."  
  
As Rebecca and Carlos mused about wanting a sibling of their own, Chris and Jill were still embracing for what seemed like an eternity to the both of them.  
  
"Are you sure you're okay Jill?" Chris whispered, as he put his hand on her neck to check for any wounds.  
  
"I'm fine Chris...thanks to you..." she whispered back gently, as she pulled away from the embrace a little bit to look into his eyes, "I don't know what I would've done without you..."  
  
"Wasn't Carlos with you though...?" he asked, looking a bit crestfallen.  
  
"There's a big difference, because you're my only partner, Chris..." she replied back with a soft smile on her beautiful face, "We're partners, you and me...we'll look after each other...always..."  
  
He gently smiled at her, the first real smile she had seen after the tragic event that had transpired earlier. He held her tenderly, making her heart flutter with a sort of selfish joy.  
  
She was in love with Chris as much as he was in love with her, and she was going to do anything she could to ease his pain after losing his sister Claire.  
  
Barry meanwhile inspected the Nemesis, surprised at the amount of bullets that were in its body.  
  
He chuckled slightly. "Looks like you won't be getting up any time soon."  
  
He was quite surprised that it hadn't gotten up, especially after hearing all the horror stories that Jill had told him about the first Nemesis and how it constantly chased her through Raccoon City...round after round of bullets and shells only stopping it temporarily, heavier weaponry such as grenades and other explosives only making it transform into stronger forms...it had taken two shots from a heavy rail cannon before it was finally reduced to a small parasite that was easily dispatched with a magnum.  
  
Barry was almost disappointed, because he was expecting to make good use of his Desert Eagle magnum on the creature, but instead it lay there in it's own blood, empty bullet and shotgun shell casings littering the ground around it, holes of all sizes in it's tattered and torn bloody trench coat.  
  
It just lay there, dead, without much of a fight.  
  
"The ultimate bio weapon turned out to be the ultimate failure." Barry mused to himself, as he unloaded one last shot into the Nemesis' head for good measure, just incase. You could never be too sure what the hell each new B.O.W. could do, so it was always better to play it safe then be sorry.  
  
  
  
-Umbrella Pharmaceutical Headquarters, Lab Facility-  
  
  
  
"How goes the development of the G-virus?" asked Alexia casually, as she entered another lab area with President Hanson.  
  
"It's going quite well...in fact, we're hoping that it's in the period of it's usefulness cycle where it can compare to your T-Veronica virus..." answered the President.  
  
"Oh really now? And how long has it been taking for it to become perfect, like the pride of the Ashford family, my T-Veronica virus?" she asked, sounding as if she was a real queen talking to a simple peasant or servant.  
  
"It's not quite perfect, yet...but we have our top researchers working on it." the President hastily answered, as he eyed Alexia strangely.  
  
"Where are we going next?" she asked, not really caring about what he had just said.  
  
"We're going to meet a few doctors..." he said, rather suspiciously to Alexia, "Come this way, Ms. Ashford."  
  
She followed behind him as he led them through a number of gray, mechanical corridors, until they stopped in what appeared to be an operating room, with "doctors" already there to greet them. As well as heavily armed troops.  
  
To Alexia, however, they didn't really look like doctors, because in her mind wearing biohazard protection suits weren't exactly the same as white lab coats. Also, the troops didn't exactly make her feel any more comfortable.  
  
"What do they plan on doing?" she asked with a concerned tone as she started to back away from the President.  
  
"Why Alexia, you don't mind if we *extract* some samples of the T-Veronica virus from your body, would you?" President Hanson asked, as if he were talking to a child, "H.C.F, our rival company of many years, has managed to snag a sample of the T-Veronica virus. Since you're technically still an employee of Umbrella, you're legally inclined to let us take a few samples from you."  
  
Alexia eye's flared up as she backed away, becoming rather pissed off at the situation that was unfolding. She did not want to be poked and prodded, and she most certainly did not want any needles going through her perfect skin. The Ashford family practically founded Umbrella, and she would be damned if she would be merely a test subject to the company.  
  
"What if I refuse to participate in your tests? What if I would rather keep my virus to myself?" she said angrily, as the temperature around her body started to become increasingly warmer.  
  
"You don't have much of a choice, Ms. Ashford." said President Hanson coldly, as he gestured for the heavily armed troops to advance towards her, "Now, are you going to cooperate with us or not?"  
  
She chuckled as fire appeared in her pupils. "After double crossing me, I don't think so, Mr. President."  
  
President Hanson's face twisted with anger at her response. "Guards! Seize her!"  
  
Each of the heavily armed guards advanced towards her, threateningly holding their shotguns at her with twisted smiles. To their surprise however, she didn't even flinch; in fact, she just stayed there, with a twisted smile of her own. They cautiously came closer to her until they were just a few feet away, ready to grab her by force.  
  
That was, until she started to bleed all over her body, as if her blood was flowing out of her pores. The guards backed away a few feet, startled by the freakish sight before them.  
  
"Afraid of a little blood?" she said with a haughty laugh as she casually walked over to the group of troops, looking extremely odd considering the fact she was bleeding all over, "Maybe I should turn up the heat..?"  
  
The guards looked at her with puzzled expressions on their faces as they wondered what she meant, until they quickly realized that the blood on her body was on fire, which burned off her clothes that were quickly replaced by what looked like gray bioorganic armor. Startled even more so then before, some of the soldiers quickly resorted to shouting in confusion and fear, rather then firing their shotguns.  
  
"What the hell?!"  
  
"She's on fire! Her blood! It turned into fire!"  
  
"She looks like a Tyrant!"  
  
"My god, what is she?!"  
  
Alexia smiled with glee as she walked into the hysterical group of frightened guards, absently shrugging off bullets fired by the more competent guards who were in the back.   
  
To the horror of the freaked out troops, she gleefully threw some of her blood on them, resulting in them immediately catching on fire, screaming horribly as they ran around in circles, the intense heat too much for them to bear.  
  
She smiled as she watched in content as the sound of those soldiers dying horrible deaths. She tilted her head towards the President and the "doctors", who were behind the remaining troops, who were vainly firing their shotguns at her.  
  
"This is what happens when you mess with me, Mr. President." she said with a smile, as she shrugged off another round of fire thanks to her ultra tough bioorganic skin.  
  
"Keep on firing you idiots!" bellowed President Hanson, as he hid like a coward behind the "doctors".  
  
"I am perfection, Mr. Hanson." she said proudly, as she started to walk over to the group of soldiers, researchers, and the President, "Do you really honestly think your puny weapons can hurt me? I am the embodiment of all that is perfect!"  
  
"You're crazy..." muttered the President angrily, despite the fact that he was cowering in fear, "You're just like Birkin, obsessed with your work to the point where you think you're invincible...heh...we proved him wrong though..."  
  
"William Birkin was a crazed man who was betrayed by Umbrella and destroyed..." she said, as she smacked the remaining soldiers and researchers away with a sickening crack, "I much different, for I am Alexia Ashford...the perfect Queen...who shall destroy Umbrella for betraying me..."  
  
The President cowered as he tried to back away, but was caught by Alexia's powerful grasp.  
  
"What...what are you going to do to me...?" he whimpered as he looked into her inhuman eyes, struggling to be released from her grasp.  
  
"I'll allow you to be killed by the perfect being..." she said with a child like smile, as she put both her hands on his face and engulfed his entire body in intense flames. She dropped the body to the floor as he writhed in agony and blinding pain, his vision getting hazy as he struggled to look up to her face.  
  
"Goodbye, Mr. Hanson." she said as she spun around and started walking towards the door, "and thank you for the tour of Umbrella. I've always wanted to see it, after all..."  
  
He screamed loudly in fiery pain once more as he slowly died, his insides turning into what looked like charcoal as he lay there, convulsing and shivering at the same time, wishing he hadn't crossed Alexia's path.  
  
She casually walked out of the room, deciding that she might as well destroy the entire facility as well.  
  
"This is the end of Umbrella...and the beginning of the Queen's reign..." she said aloud with a sadistic smile, as she began to set fire to everything around her, still casually walking around each corridor, retracing her steps so that she could burn everything to the ground...  
  
  
  
-End Of Chapter Eighteen-  
  
  
  
Well, Alexia's going to destroy the headquarters of Umbrella...big surprise, huh?  
  
Next episode we'll see the Nemesis come back, except it has a new target...  
  
And we'll see more personality development between the whole cast of heroes...including someone you would never expect.  
  
Oh yes, and please read Mayaku's story "Unscathed", especially since it's so great!  
  
As usual with every chapter, please rate and review! New reviewers will get their names in the credits at the top of each new chapter! 


	19. Just Like Superman

Author's Note: Yeah, I'm attempting to make the "author's note" part of each chapter relatively small, so that you the fans get to have more nice material to read and then review about!  
  
Thanks goes to (In Order of Appearance for all chapters so far): random echo, Claire Burnside267, a reader, diddly day, Zil, Tasha Burnside, Umbrella-Experiment, Parasite Lin, Biohazard 101, Cand, Queen Kristina, Apokruphos, Redfield 99, Yumi Konoe, Chandler01, Lyger, Chicky Tifa, D-2Artemis, Shin, Simon552, Jimbo Jones, claire3407, Squall Leonhart, Mayaku, President Evil, ashford2ashford, and The Elvish Vampire Seira!  
  
Thanks goes to reviewers of Chapter Eighteen: diddly day, Squall Leonhart, Mayuku, Simon552, Chicky Tifa, Redfield 99, President Evil, Lyger, random echo, ashford2ashford, and The Elvish Vampire Seira! Thanks guys!   
  
Remember, any non-constructive reviews (i.e. flames) will be deleted from now on ^_~ I gladly accept constructive reviews, but flames are just not nice. ^_^v  
  
Any new reviewers automatically will be added to the list whenever a new chapter comes out for this story!  
  
On with yet another chapter...  
  
Special Note: The scene with Rebecca and Carlos is fixed, due to the fact that some people suggested to tone down the tension between them. I had no idea that some people thought it looked like they were in love. X.x; It's fixed now to be more sibling-ish...hopefully.  
  
  
  
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -  
-By Brian Marcelo-  
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-  
Rated R for violence.  
  
  
  
-Just Like Superman-  
-Chapter Nineteen-  
  
  
  
-Umbrella Pharmaceutical Headquarters-  
  
  
  
As soon as he had heard the news, he was shocked beyond belief.   
  
Alexia Ashford, creator of the famed T-Veronica virus, someone who he had only hear about during his training days at the military train facility on Rockfort Island, was actually in the Umbrella building at this very moment, being given a "tour" by President Hanson himself.  
  
He had a unique fascination with Alexia, whom he had heard about from other soldiers in training, and occasionally from overhearing Alfred Ashford when he was in his office, writing in his journal and talking aloud. The facts he knew to be true was that she was Alfred's twin sister, she was a genius that had graduated from college when she was only ten years old, and that her beauty was absolutely stunning. He didn't know much else, because whoever had asked Alfred about Alexia would immediately get a furious scolding followed by something quite horrible, like being sent to help with the prisoners on the newest construction project that Alfred was working on.  
  
Of course, there was no time to think about this now, because he had to run his ass out of his office and the entire building.  
  
Not because he was late for an assignment or anything mundane like that, but for a very special reason.  
  
'Gotta get out of here...' he thought to himself, as he ran through the corridors of the second floor as fast as his legs could carry him, cursing the fact that he was still in his special forces uniform that was loaded down with his handguns, magnums, and ammo.  
  
Shoving aside another stupid researcher out of his way, he sped down the stairs, the elevator not working thanks to the wires all being burned right through thanks to the fires that had been spreading all around the building, which had been started by Alexia Ashford using her T-Veronica powers, for unknown reasons at the time.  
  
'Why did she attack Umbrella? Her family founded Umbrella...and now she's destroying it? It doesn't make sense...' he thought to himself, as he kept on shoving his way through another group of researchers, thankful that none of the T-virus samples and B.O.W. had escaped, which made escaping the building a little easier.  
  
As he kept on running, he noticed that the whole building was a mess, with papers and messes everywhere, tables overturned, wires just hanging out of the ceilings, with fires scattered on every floor.   
  
Alexia Ashford had managed to turn the whole building into the closest thing he could imagine hell to be like, and in such a short amount of time too.  
  
Feeling his adrenaline pump as he entered the first floor, he quickly sped out, getting out of the way of fire and fall debris as he managed to go right out of the main entrance. He didn't stop until he was far enough from the building to not be hit by falling debris. As stopped to catch his breath, he looked back behind himself and saw the whole building was nearly covered in flames coming out of all sides.   
  
Agent Hunk almost felt sorry for the people still stuck inside as he watched the building burn.  
  
Almost.  
  
"Yet again only the death survives..." he mused to himself aloud with a smirk, as he turned around and started to walk away.  
  
  
  
-Umbrella Pharmaceutical Headquarters, Lab Facility-  
  
  
  
Greg Jones limped slowly to the computer terminal, which was thankfully untouched by the raging fires that surrounded much of the lab thanks to Alexia.  
  
"That damn bitch!" he muttered coarsely, his throat still immensely in pain from what Alexia had done to him after he had accidentally scolded her, thinking she was a mere twenty five year old girl.  
  
"She's ruined everything! Now Umbrella will be gone, and H.C.F. will no doubt steal any information left in the wreckage...including all my blue prints for the Nemesis! No...I won't let them...!" he said through gritted teeth as he eased himself carefully into a chair, his backside in pain from when she had thrown him against the computer terminal.  
  
"I'll reactivate the Nemesis-B and program him to kill any H.C.F. personnel trying to recover him...I'll delete all the files on the Nemesis...and give him a new target to chase after and kill..." he muttered in pain, as he highlighted all files pertaining the Nemesis and deleted them off all the databases.   
  
He furiously tapped on the keyboard keys as fast as he could, the fire spreading faster into the room as he attempted to reprogram the Nemesis before he succumbed to the flames surrounding him.  
  
*click* *click* *click*  
  
Seeing the screen asking him to confirm the changes, he tapped the enter key for the last time.  
  
He smiled as he closed his eyes. "Done...."  
  
As the dancing embers of the fire drew closer to him, he opened up the last file pertaining to the Nemesis-B, which he had not deleted, so that he may look at his wonderful creation before dying.  
  
"You're the perfect bio-weapon, my Nemesis..." he whispered to the computer terminal screen, "You'll show that Alexia Ashford a thing or two when you catch up to her..."  
  
He smiled one last time as he closed his eyes, waiting for the raging inferno to take him...  
  
  
  
-Outside the Hospital-  
  
  
  
Carlos smiled as he and Rebecca kept musing about wanting a sibling of their own. He was quite interested in what she had to say, especially the bits where she talked about how Chris and Claire were so close as siblings.  
  
"Remember how Chris bandaged Claire's knee after she scrapped it? It was so cute when Chris mentioned that to all of us..." remarked Rebecca, as she sat next to Carlos on some steps.   
  
"Yeah, Claire was a pretty lucky girl to have such a caring brother...especially since the older ones are usually jealous of the younger, cuter ones..." replied Carlos.  
  
'She'd certainly make for an interesting sister to have...' thought Carlos as he smirked, until he noticed that she was smiling softly at him.  
  
"Whatca smiling at?" he asked curiously while looking over his shoulder, wondering if there was something interesting behind him.  
  
"After thinking about how well Chris and Claire got along...and how nicely we've gotten along...I just thought...you'd make a nice big brother..." she said quietly, being quite shy since she was saying all that to someone she hadn't really known all that long.  
  
Carlos looked quite surprised, which made Rebecca avert her gaze to the ground, embarrassed that she may have said something stupid.  
  
To her surprise however, he chuckled heartily.  
  
"You really think so?" he asked her with an amused look, looking into her eyes with a brotherly sort of look to them...  
  
The same type that Chris used to give her during their days in Raccoon City. She had always considered Chris a brother, and he had always considered her his second sister, often reminding him of his sister Claire. It was very painful for Rebecca to see Chris after he had started obsessing with taking down Umbrella.  
  
"Yeah...I do." she replied shyly, looking at him a bit fondly since he was beginning to remind her of what Chris was like before Umbrella ever came along.  
  
Just as Carlos was about to open his mouth to speak, he was interrupted by the sound of a huge explosion.  
  
*KA-BOOOOOM!*  
  
Everyone turned their heads around in shock as they turned to find the source of the nearly ear-deafening sound, wondering what had caused it.  
  
"Omigod..." whispered Jill in confusion and shock as her mouth hang wide, "Isn't that...Umbrella's main headquarters...?"   
  
She pointed in shock to a huge building in the distance that towered over all the others in the area, which was completely engulfed in fiery red flames.  
  
"I don't know what happened to Umbrella, but we have to go over there and investigate what, how, and why it happened..." said Chris, as his hands were balled up into fists, "Especially since it could be Wesker's doing..."  
  
"Or Alexia..." added Steve quietly, "If I'm back, that means Alexia must be here as well...I can...feel her presence..."  
  
Chris was a little shocked at hearing that, especially since he had forgotten all about Alexia after Claire had been stabbed by Wesker.  
  
"Then I guess we have two monsters to worry about..." murmured Chris angrily, as he jumped into his jeep, followed by Jill, "Me and Jill will take the jeep, everyone else follow us in the van, alright?"  
  
The others nodded in agreement as they quickly went into the van, bringing all their weapons and ammo with them. Before Chris drove away, Barry stopped him, with a question burning on his mind.  
  
"What about the Nemesis? We can't just leave the damn thing out here in broad daylight..." he said, gesturing towards the Nemesis which was lying in a pool of it's own blood.  
  
"We'll have to worry about it later, Barry...right now we have two monsters on the loose in Paris..." answered Chris, as he put his hands on the steering wheel. Barry nodded without saying anything further, understanding Chris' urge to avenge his sister, and went back into the van.  
  
"Time to go..." Chris said quietly to Jill, as he put the key into the ignition and put his foot on the pedal, racing towards Umbrella Headquarters, hoping to get revenge for what happened to Claire.  
  
As the others departed, following Chris and Jill with the van, something that they had left behind was starting to move.  
  
At first it started to slightly convulse in pain, since it had been struck with many bullets and shells. After a few more seconds of shaking and convulsing, it slowly got up, blood dripping from the numerous holes in its body as it struggled to stand. It slowly raised it's arms towards the sky as it muttered a loud groan of pain, the bullets embedded in it's body starting to just pop out of the monster's body along with blood, as if they were being pushed out internally.  
  
After the last few bullets dropped to the ground, it started to walk again towards an alleyway, this time tracking a new target.  
  
"ALEXIA...." it groaned inhumanly as it continued to walk in the shadows of an alleyway, the pronunciation off since it was only the second word that it had been programmed to say up till now...  
  
  
  
-Abandoned Church, Wesker's Hiding Place-  
  
  
  
"I can feel the raw power of the T-Veronica surging throughout my body..." Wesker said aloud, despite the fact that Ada had looked startled by his new appearance.  
  
"Was it really worth it Wesker...?" Ada asked quietly, knowing full well that it was a bit foolish of her to do ask such a mundane question.  
  
"Of course, Miss Wong...why wouldn't it be worth it?" he replied, surprised a little that Ada didn't look as impressed as she had been a few minutes ago.  
  
"It's just that...don't you think there's a certain point where having too much power is kind of...I don't know...bad?" she asked, with her hands on her hips, "Why do you want to be so powerful, anyways? Wasn't having the 'Miracle' virus enough for you?"  
  
He merely chuckled. "When I was a small boy I always dreamed of power..."  
  
Her eyebrows raised in suspicion. "Don't little boys dream of girls, big toys, and money instead?"  
  
"I wasn't an ordinary boy, hell, with the power I had before getting the T-Veronica virus I could've had all that..." he said in reply, as he lit a flame on his index finger, "You remember all those comic book heroes, like Superman?"  
  
"Yeah, I know, that guy who flies around in tights, a cape, and red underwear...what about him?" she asked, her curiosity growing ever so slightly at the mention of a comic book character.  
  
"As embarrassing as it is to say, I used to read those comics when I was younger..." he mused fondly, as she sat next to Ada, "I used to get bullied a lot, so I would often stay inside and read those comics...wishing I could have power like that...and now I do..."  
  
To his surprise, she snickered. "Is that why you're so damn pale?"  
  
"That too..." he muttered under his breath, his eye slightly twitching in anger as he stood up once more to look down on her.  
  
"But seriously Wesker, was it worth it? I mean, instead of being like your childhood hero Superman...you've become something that would easily quality for one of his major villains..." she said, tilting her head slightly at him.  
  
Wesker merely tilted his head at her statement, wondering when the hell she had started to become all symbolic.  
  
Before he could utter a reply, a loud explosion wracked the church, making it shake rather violently.  
  
*KA-BOOOM!*  
  
"What the hell was that?" she shouted, as she held on to one of the church benches, "Sounded like an explosion..."  
  
"At Umbrella...." Wesker finished, as he pointed out towards a broken window, where they could both see Umbrella Headquarters engulfed in flames, with debris flying everywhere.  
  
Without any more words exchanged between them, with the exception of a mutual confused glance, they quickly departed for Umbrella, wondering what had gone wrong...  
  
  
  
-Umbrella Pharmaceutical Headquarters-  
  
  
  
She walked out of the main entrance as casual as could be, dressed up in a researcher's lab coat that fit her quite well, humming a melancholy tune cheerfully as the building right in back of her was close to being completely demolished.  
  
"Let's see...I destroyed most of their research and pathetic B.O.W...I torched nearly every floor...and I killed pretty much everyone in the building..." she said with a smile of amusement, "Now all I need to do is destroy those inferior twins, as well as that blonde haired man who dared to oppose his future Queen..."  
  
As she started to walk away from the ghastly scene of chaos and destruction, she noticed something in the far off distance, something colored red, rather tall, and shaped in the form of a tower of sorts.  
  
"The Eiffel Tower..." she whispered with an amused tone as she realized what it was, "I've always wanted to see what the viewpoint from the Eiffel Tower looked like..."  
  
Humming her favorite tune once more, she started to walk towards it's location, taking her time so that she could "enjoy" the sights and sounds of what Paris had to offer.  
  
  
  
- . . . . . -  
  
  
  
*Bam!*  
  
"Go away!"  
  
*Bam!*  
  
"Leave me alone!"  
  
*Bam!*  
  
"Why isn't my gun affecting you?!"  
  
*Bam!* *Bam!*  
  
"Where am I...?"  
  
"What...? I...I'm dead...?"  
  
"What do you mean...? They were turned into zombies!"  
  
"Huh? But they were already dead!"  
  
"You don't mean that...you've got to be joking!"  
  
"I was a good person! I was practically a heroine!"  
  
"Just because I killed them again...I'm here...?"  
  
"Chris...Leon...Steve...someone...anyone...help..."  
  
"I can't believe...I'm here...."  
  
"All alone..."  
  
"In my own personal hell...?"  
  
  
  
-End of Chapter Nineteen-  
  
  
  
Yes, I know the last part probably didn't make sense, but if you read between the lines you'll probably guess. Who knows what will happen to person talking in the last part in this chapter? She might be stuck there forever...and ever...  
  
Stay tuned for the next chapter, I promise it'll be longer and much more interesting then this!  
  
As usual, please rate and review!   
  
And yeah, I'm working on Chapter Three to "Night On The Town"! 


	20. Hell Bound

Author's Note: Yeah, I'm attempting to make the "author's note" part of each chapter relatively small, so that you the fans get to have more nice material to read and then review about!  
  
Thanks goes to (In Order of Appearance for all chapters so far): random echo, Claire Burnside267, a reader, diddly day, Zil, Tasha Burnside, Umbrella-Experiment, Parasite Lin, Biohazard 101, Cand, Queen Kristina, Apokruphos, Redfield 99, Yumi Konoe, Chandler01, Lyger, Chicky Tifa, D-2Artemis, Shin, Simon552, Jimbo Jones, claire3407, Squall Leonhart, Mayaku, President Evil, ashford2ashford, The Elvish Vampire Seira, Felicia, Mayumi-H, Mossberg, Serena, Dragonchan, and Lily!  
  
Thanks goes to reviewers of Chapter Nineteen: Lyger, Felicia, Biohazard 101, Mayumi, Mossberg, random echo, Mayuku, Serena, Dragonchan, Lily!  
  
Special Message to Lily: I am not a review whore, so darn you, darn you to heck. ;_; Wah.  
  
Don't worry, I'm trying my best not to make this cliché, I'm putting in various twists and such to make it...interesting, to say the least. And yes, flaming will not work in persuading me to change my mind, although some nice constructive criticism is always welcome as long as it's presented well, and not in an immature way.   
  
On with yet another chapter...  
  
  
  
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -  
-By Brian Marcelo-  
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-  
Rated R.  
  
  
  
-Hell Bound-  
-Chapter Twenty-  
  
  
  
-...-  
  
  
  
With a look of fear evident in her features, she cautiously looked around her setting, wondering where she was. A few minutes ago she had been in a hospital stretcher, and then bright lights had obscured her vision. The next thing she knew, there was a period of nothing but darkness, and now...she was here.  
  
She didn't know exactly how she got here, but she already had a good guess of where she was.  
  
She gasped a little as something slimy squirmed by her leg, causing her to shiver as she backed away, hoping that whatever had just touched her was small and harmless.  
  
She certainly didn't imagine hell to be like this...she imagined it to be a horribly hot place, with demons flying around, torturing damned people with various weapons and torture devices, and finally, she thought the damned place would be all red and fiery and brimstone-ish.  
  
Instead, she was back in Raccoon City, or at the very least, something that looked very much like Raccoon City. There were, unsurprisingly, zombies and various other monsters that she had fought before in Raccoon City, although this time, they didn't even notice her. They were just shambling around, waiting for their next victim to show up, totally oblivious to her presence.  
  
Of course, it made no sense to her, especially since Hell was suppose to torture you for all eternity for your sins, not leave you alone, as if you were invisible. Of course, another thing on her mind was why she was here. She thought she hadn't committed any major sins in her relatively short life; in fact, she thought she was a heroine.   
  
However, she was sent here, wherever here was, for probably the rest of her life, just because she had killed all those zombies back in Raccoon City, Rockfort Island, and Antarctica.  
  
A dark figure, wrapped in a familiar trench coat along with the blankest expression she had ever seen, had stepped up from the shadows of the alleyway she was hiding in, and had started to stare straight down at her with blank, dead eyes.  
  
She cautiously backed away, her handgun held firmly in her hands, finger wrapped around the trigger in case she had to defend herself.  
  
Mr. X, better known as the Tyrant, was here in her hell along with her, she thought, probably because it was the embodiment of Umbrella, the corporation that had ruined her life, as well as ending up being partially to blame for her untimely death.  
  
To her surprise, it had started to talk as if it were a voice in her own mind.  
  
"Do you know why you're here...?" it had asked her, its stare piercing into her very soul, making her shiver as she tried not to run away.  
  
"Why...?" she had managed to mutter out, "Why am I here...?"  
  
"You killed those innocent people..." it had said, in an almost amused tone.  
  
"What do you mean...? They were turned into zombies!" she had argued frantically, " They were already dead...they were going to kill me!"  
  
"It does not matter...you killed those people...you could've tried to find a cure for them, yet you did not..." it bellowed once more into her mind, causing her to shiver with every word.  
  
"I...I didn't know there was a cure...the...the only cure I found was for the G-virus...the Devil vaccine...there was only enough for Sherry..." she said, stuttering in fear, which was not something she would normally do, even if she was around something as foreboding as a Tyrant.  
  
"You failed those people...just like how you failed Steve..." it bellowed again, sounding more amused at her pain.  
  
"I...I...." was all she managed to mutter before the Tyrant grabbed her by the throat roughly.  
  
"What are...you...doing...?" she gasped out, as she tried to pry his huge hand off her throat.  
  
"Punishing you for your crimes..." the voice in her head said simply.  
  
Looking at the Tyrant with a confused expression on her face, she tried to take a swing at its face, which resulted in it throwing her against the alleyway wall harshly. She gasped for air as she lay on the ground, feeling pain she had never felt in her life, more painful then when she was dying.  
  
"What...what are you going to do now...?" she had asked aloud, gripping her ribs tightly as they throbbed in pain from the impact.  
  
"I shall leave you alone for now, letting you wonder what's real...what is not...and what hell truly means..." it had replied simply, it's haunting message being repeated in her head like an echo, even after the Tyrant had left her in the alleyway.   
  
It seemed like Hell was going to treat Claire extra special during her stay there.  
  
  
  
-Chris' jeep, on the way to Umbrella-  
  
  
  
"Umbrella's finally gone..." Jill whispered in an amazed tone, somewhat afraid to look at the expression on her partner's face, especially since Wesker had been mentioned earlier.  
  
"Yeah...all thanks to Alexia Ashford...pretty crazy, huh...?" he softly responded, sounding slightly shaky, "From the files that...Claire...and I kept from our experience with the Ashfords, we were able to learn that her family was one of the founding members of Umbrella..."  
  
Chris couldn't believe that Umbrella was gone. After all the planning, after all the nightmares, after everything he had gone through because of them...it was all for nothing, seeing as how Umbrella was now gone in less then a day. It wasn't just a simple attack either, because now the towering building was no longer in view. No doubt the intense flames had probably caused the tower to collapse.  
  
At first, he had thought it might've been Wesker, but after looking back at things that Wesker had said, it had seemed that Wesker no longer had any interest in Umbrella since he had the T-Veronica virus. Seeing as how Umbrella wasn't exactly trustworthy, Chris had deducted that somehow Alexia Ashford had gone to Umbrella and then had been double crossed, why, he didn't bother to think about further.  
  
"Why would she want to destroy Umbrella if her own family founded it...?" Jill asked, despite the fact that she didn't really care why Alexia did it, because as long as Umbrella was gone, she was happy. At least, as happy as one could be when their partner/love interest was in pain over the loss of a sibling.  
  
Mustering up all her courage, she slowly turned her head and glanced at him with soft eyes, noticing he looked neither sad nor angry, but more like determined.  
  
'No doubt determined to avenge Claire...' she thought to herself, also noticing that his eyes didn't hold the same anger that was there earlier, 'Perhaps he learned that being in a constant state of anger wasn't such a good idea...'  
  
"I hope you're having a nice time up there, kiddo..." she said quietly, as she leaned back in her seat and looked up at the afternoon sky, "I really wish we could've had more time to bond...it would've been nice to have known you better...I bet heaven sure must be a great place to be, huh Claire...?"  
  
  
  
-Hunk's hiding place in Paris-  
  
  
  
With a small *click*, he loaded the magazine into his Assault Rifle, one of the three weapons he had managed to smuggle out of Umbrella's main building as he was making his escape. Now that he no longer had a office, nor employer for that matter, to come back to, he had gone back to his hiding place in Paris, sitting back to ponder what he was going to do now.  
  
Agent Hunk was quite experienced in many forms of combat and unarmed combat, and he had undergone many missions for Umbrella, many of them having a high fatality rate. However, he had always survived each mission handed down to him, no matter how suicidal it seemed to be. So often was he the only survivor that he was nicknamed "Mr. Death" by his fellow soldiers, who all wished to have his will to live despite all the odds.  
  
Now that he no longer had an employer, he was free to pursue other things at the moment, such as joining with H.C.F. perhaps, or even better, tracking down Alexia Ashford. He may have had a unique fascination with her, but he wanted answers...he wanted to know why Alexia Ashford destroyed Umbrella, as well as wanting to meet her face to face, to quench his curiosity about her.  
  
He chuckled as a thought suddenly crossed his mind. 'It's usually the heroes who never die, and the villains who always bite the dust...but not me, because I'm Mr. Death...'  
  
He was snickering as he checked Desert Eagle magnum. "I guess that would make me qualify for hero status...?"  
  
  
  
-The ruins of what was once Umbrella's Headquarters-  
  
  
As they reached their target destination, they soon realized that the sounds from the explosions they had heard earlier simply did not match what had happened physically to the large building.  
  
"What could've done this?" Ada asked quietly, as she and Wesker surveyed what was left of it Umbrella's Headquarters.  
  
Umbrella's Headquarters, which had once stood tall and proud, was now reduced to nothing more than a few stories worth of twisted wreckage and dusty debris. Most of the area around what was once the Umbrella's main branch was engulfed in intense flames. It seemed that whoever did this sure wanted to leave their mark...  
  
"You people should get as far away as you can! There's still many fires around here!" yelled one of the firemen, who had noticed the rather strange duo while trying to put the intense fires out.  
  
"I'm special agent Ada Wong..." replied Ada, as she quickly pulled out her ID card, "And this is special agent Albert Wesker...we're here from H.C.F. to investigate what could've caused this..."  
  
The fireman was too busy to respond since his eyes had widened and his jaw had dropped as he noticed Wesker, who still was in his T-Veronica form.  
  
"Wha...what's wrong with your friend...?" stuttered out the fireman, prompting Wesker to fold his arms and growl angrily, "He looks like he's been set on fire or something..."  
  
Ada nervously laughed as she glanced at Wesker. "He's going to a comic convention later...he just loves those comic book superheroes."  
  
"He sure doesn't look like any comic heroes I've seen, ma'am." replied the fireman, who left to go put out the fires on wreckage.  
  
Wesker growled angrily once again as he tilted his black sunglasses at Ada, who was trying her best to stiffle her giggles.  
  
  
  
-In the alleyways of Paris...-  
  
  
  
The Nemesis swiftly ran through the alleyways, relentless trying to find it's prey.  
  
"ALEXIA..." it roared inhumanly, as it surveyed the area, trying to match the picture programmed into its brain with anything in the area.  
  
This Nemesis was not the same one that had been dispatched in Raccoon City, but was actually the second model created. This Nemesis was much more advanced then it's predecessor, since it had a maps of Paris programmed into its brain, as well as having a higher resistance rate to any sort of weapons; it was even able to take direct shots to the head from high caliber weapons such as a magnum. Its healing rate was increased two-fold, allowing it to push bullets out of its body and heal any part of its body.  
  
Carrying the name Nemesis-Beta, it was created to once again hunt down Jill Valentine and Carlos Oliviera. After being dispatched by Umbrella researcher Greg Jones, it had successfully found Jill and Carlos, and was just about to kill Jill when Chris Redfield as well as the other S.T.A.R.S. members came to her rescue. The Nemesis was not defeated however, only stunned temporarily. After the S.T.A.R.S. left, it was reactivated by Greg Jones, who programmed it to go after Alexia Ashford instead after she had started torching Umbrella HQ.  
  
Being the last surviving B.O.W. from Umbrella, it kept on going throughout the alleyways, stalking Alexia Ashford, and thankfully, being undetected by normal Paris citizens doing their daily day things.  
  
Of course, it wouldn't hesitate to kill anything in its way of course, be it S.T.A.R.S. members, police officers, or civilians.  
  
"ALEXIA..." it groaned once more, as it grew ever so closer to its target...  
  
  
  
  
-In the van with Leon, Steve, Rebecca, Carlos, and Barry-  
  
  
  
"Umbrella's gone...can you guys believe it?" remarked Barry excitedly, as he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, making sure to keep up with Chris' jeep, "And we didn't even have to do a damn thing either, isn't it great?"  
  
Barry was overjoyed at the fact that Umbrella's Headquarters, which were most of their experimenting was now being done at, was completely demolished. He didn't have to worry about losing any more people close to him...he didn't have to worry about having to explain to the families of those who died...and best of all...he was able to see his family again.  
  
"My family..." he mused aloud, "I can't wait to seem them after all this is over..."  
  
"You're pretty lucky Barry, to have a family to come back to..." replied Steve, who had a firm grip on sub-machine gun, "I lost all mine to Umbrella...and a loved one too..."  
  
"Yeah..." said Barry quietly, feeling stupid as well as ashamed for bringing up the subject of family after what had happened to Steve, as well as Claire.  
  
"Oh..." murmured Rebecca meekly, as she looked at Steve sadly.   
  
"I'm sorry for what happened to your parents..." Carlos interjected, as he put a hand on Steve's shoulder, "We've all lost someone because of Umbrella...friends...teammates...it must be really difficult for you..."  
  
It was more then difficult for Steve Burnside; it was hell. Not only did Umbrella soldiers gun down his mother, and that he was forced to shoot down his undead father, but the love of his life, Claire Redfield, was gone as well.   
  
"Thanks for caring..." Steve murmured with a forced smile, "I appreciate it guys..."  
  
Leon, however, remained quiet as he slumped against the back of the van, thinking back to those he had lost. There was Ada Wong...voluptuous and sneaky, yet with a tender heart that she didn't dare show to just anyone. He could still remember how they had fallen in love so fast...how they stole glances at each other...how their lips met...and how she had died...  
  
Then there was Claire...he was in love with Claire...he refused to think of her as a fallback...no...he did love her. He was in love with her personality and looks...everything about her made his heart flutter...  
  
He was grateful that at least had been able to enjoy a nice breakfast with her that was filled with laughter and poking fun at each other...   
  
Leon meant those words to her...those three words that he had only uttered twice in his lifetime...  
  
He was missing Claire dearly, but was satisfied with the fact that she was in a better place now.  
  
"Wherever you are Claire...think about me..." he whispered softly, as the van approached the disaster scene...  
  
  
  
-.....-  
  
  
  
Claire couldn't believe her eyes as she gazed upon the figure in front of her.  
  
"Is that really...you...?" she asked meekly, still gripping her ribs from the impact she had sustained from earlier.  
  
"Yes." replied the figure coldly.  
  
"But...how can you be here with me...?" she asked, startled by the coldness in the figure's tone.  
  
The figure shrugged.  
  
"How...how you can be here...Steve...?" she asked, her eyes widening as he offered her a hand.  
  
  
  
-End of Chapter Twenty-  
  
  
  
The last part is meant to be confusing...  
  
In Chapter Twenty-One we'll see another showdown...and we'll get to see what the hell is happening to Claire...  
  
Stay tuned for the next chapter! As usual, please rate and review! I really apperciate any reviews I get!   
  
  
Also, read Mayuku's (ID: 198490) stories! They are quite detailed and kick ass!  
  
Unscathed: Wesker nearly kills Claire and Steve is back! A new adventure primarly focused on the destruction of Wesker has begun. Violent with subtle Romantic themes. Read at:http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=716816  
  
Giving up on Love: A fanfiction narrated by Claire Redfield. She discusses a love triangle that's going on in her life between Steve/Leon/her and sums up how everything became a mess. Read at: http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=732827 


	21. Something's Not Quite Right

Author's Note:   
  
Thanks goes to (In Order of Appearance for all chapters so far): random echo, Claire Burnside267, a reader, diddly day, Zil, Tasha Burnside, Umbrella-Experiment, Parasite Lin, Biohazard 101, Cand, Queen Kristina, Apokruphos, Redfield 99, Yumi Konoe, Chandler01, Lyger, Chicky Tifa, D-2Artemis, Shin, Simon552, Jimbo Jones, claire3407, Squall Leonhart, Mayaku, President Evil, ashford2ashford, The Elvish Vampire Seira, Felicia, Mayumi-H, Mossberg, Serena, Dragonchan, Lily, Reazher, Wesker, iMac722, and Diamond Angel!  
  
Thanks goes to reviewers of Chapter Twenty: Serena, Lyger, Redfield 99, Mayaku, Claire Burnside267, Biohazard 101, random echo, diddly day, Reazher, Mossberg, Mayumi-H, Dragonchan, The Elvish Vampire Seira, Wesker, iMac722, and Diamond Angel!  
  
Oh yeah, the Resident Evil Remake was a truly amazing game...   
  
On with yet another chapter...  
  
  
  
-Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -  
-By Brian Marcelo-  
-brianmarcelo@hotmail.com-  
Rated R.  
  
  
  
-Something's Not Quite Right...-  
-Chapter Twenty-One-  
  
  
  
-...-  
  
  
  
Claire Redfield couldn't believe the sight before her...even though she had been lead to believe she was in Hell, what lay before her was something out of Heaven.  
  
"Steve...? How can you be here...?" she asked in awe, as she looked him over. To her surprise, he looked exactly like how he did when they were on Rockfort and Antarctica together, right down to the prison collar and blood tattered jacket he wore. It was as if he hadn't changed at all...  
  
Steve smirked. "Didn't your mom ever tell you not to question a good thing?"  
  
Claire blinked in surprise at his casual response, slowly remembering that in fact her mom had told her that as a child...  
  
"But when we were trying to save you from Wesker...then I got hurt...then you were there...how can you be here now...is there anyone else here...?" she managed to sputter out, hoping to get a better response.  
  
Steve merely scratched the back of his head as he looked at her, his expression that of pure confusion.  
  
"Never mind Steve...I'm just happy to see that you're okay..." Claire said with a smile, putting her arms around Steve in a warm embrace, "I missed you..."  
  
"Me too." he replied sheepishly, as he returned the embrace.  
  
  
  
-Paris Hospital-  
  
  
  
"So this is the Redfield girl, right?" asked the mortician, as she examined the clipboard, "They just keep dying younger and younger..."  
  
"Tragic, eh?" replied the person who carted the body inside, "She died by large wounds caused by a knife...guess she must've been in one of those gangs..."  
  
"Sigh, today's youth...all high up on angst and drugs...it's depressing I tell ya...just depressing." remarked the mortician, as she pulled off the white sheet covering the body to examine it. She gasped in surprise as she looked over the somewhat pale body of Claire Redfield.  
  
"Are you sure she died from large wounds...?" stuttered the mortician, as she took off her glasses and rubbed them on her shirt.  
  
"Yeah..." replied the person, who was apparently a male nurse, "The wounds were so large that they had been unable to do anything whatsoever as a matter of fact...why do you ask?"  
  
"Well...if you took a look for yourself, you'd notice that there are no wounds on the body at all...I don't even see any scars or anything where the wounds should be...." said the bewildered mortician, as she put her glasses back on, "It's as if they just disappeared or healed over..."  
  
  
  
-...-  
  
  
  
"Steve? Do you smell that?" asked Claire as she coughed a little bit.  
  
"Smell what?" replied Steve, as he turned around to face her, a cigarette dangling from the side of his mouth, "I don't smell anything..."  
  
Claire blinked in surprise as she grabbed Steve by the arm. "Since when did you start smoking...?"  
  
Steve shrugged her hand off his arm as he took a long drag on the cigarette. "What's the big deal Claire? It's not like I'll die from it."  
  
She backed away from Steve a little bit as he said that, remembering that Chris had said that exact same thing when he first started taking up smoking; thankfully, Claire had managed to get him to quit smoking before he had gone off to Raccoon City...  
  
  
  
-Ruins of Umbrella HQ-  
  
  
  
"Chris...how good it is to see you again. Tell me...how is your sister?" Wesker said with a devious smirk on his face.  
  
"She's dead..." replied Chris coldly, as he took out his Glock 17, "You'll pay for that you bastard..."  
  
"Touchy touchy, aren't we Chris?" remarked Wesker, as his body reverted to his T-Veronica form in a burst of intense flame, "Do you really think you and your friends can defeat me...?"  
  
Despite the fact that the group finally met up with Wesker again, Leon was in complete shock after seeing the figure next to Wesker; it was the closest thing to a ghost that he had ever seen.  
  
"Ada...?" Leon said loudly, "How...how can you be alive...?"  
  
Ada, who had been gazing longingly at Leon, stayed quiet, not knowing what to say.  
  
"Love struck Mr. Kennedy...heh...Ada was brought back the same way I was...you could say she's not quite the same person you met before..." commented Wesker, as he turned his attention away from Chris and the others and focused solely on Leon.  
  
"Ada...please...don't fight alongside Wesker! He's pure evil...Ada...please think about what you're doing!" Leon cried out frantically, his mind going miles a second. He couldn't believe that Ada was back...she was actually back, still looking the same despite all those months apart.  
  
'Leon...' Ada thought to herself, as she felt her iron will dissolve thanks to his voice. She hadn't heard his strong, confident cop voice in so long that it had her thinking about what she was doing.  
  
"You know Chris...I bet Claire must be lonely in Hell...perhaps you'd like to join her...?" Wesker said menacingly, as he set the combat knife he was holding on fire, "Or maybe...Jill would like to say hello to your sister...?"  
  
  
  
-...-  
  
  
  
"Where are we supposed to go?" Steve asked, as he flicked the cigarette out of his mouth, "You've been to Raccoon City before, right? Shouldn't you know the way?"  
  
"Right...so I just know where to go...since this should be Raccoon City..." Claire said, unsure of herself. Everything seemed so unreal to Claire, as if this was one big dream that she couldn't really do much about. First there was nothing but darkness, then she had appeared in Raccoon City as if it were a big flashback. Not to mention the fact that a Mr. X had grabbed her by the throat and proceeded to mention that she was in Hell.  
  
'This couldn't be Raccoon City...it was destroyed thanks to that nuclear warhead...and unless this is some kind of mind game by Umbrella or Wesker...then this really is...Hell...?' she thought to herself, as she shivered slightly.  
  
"That's the police station, right?" Steve commented, as he pointed to the sign with one of his Golden Lugers, "Maybe inside the police station there's a way out of this crazy place?"  
  
Claire looked at Steve as he talked, noticing that his mannerisms and the way he moved just seemed so...out of character. It was as if he was a completely different person to her now.  
  
"R-right...let's get inside..." replied Claire, as she led the way into the Raccoon City Police Station.  
  
  
  
-Eiffel Tower-  
  
  
  
Alexia Ashford tilted her head upwards as she took in the sight of the Eiffel Tower. Seeing as how she had lived a very short life of only ten years, with the other fifteen spent in cryogenic freezing, buildings such as the Eiffel Tower was something that truly amazed her.   
  
"Mm..." she murmured slightly, as she took in the vastness of the huge structure, absently wondering how such a thing could be built.  
  
Alexia smirked as she continued towards the tower's elevator, thinking over her plan in head. Seeing as how the tower was easily one of the tallest structures in Paris, it would be very easy for her to use it as a sort of base, as well as a central point where the 'cleansing' could begin.  
  
'Yes,' Alexia thought smugly, 'Soon the people of France will be under my control...'  
  
  
  
-Close by the Eiffel Tower-  
  
  
  
It was getting closer.  
  
It started to break into a run, knowing that it's prey was close by.  
  
Despite having no real emotions, a lipless grimace appeared on its face as it's prey was in view now.  
  
"ALEXIA..."  
  
  
  
-...-  
  
  
  
Claire kept glancing at Steve every now and then, wondering what the hell was going on. With the talking Tyrant thingy, Raccoon City back, and Steve doing very unusual things, there was definitely something wrong.  
  
"Something's not quite right here..." mumbled Claire quietly, as she withdrew a handgun seemingly out of nowhere...  
  
  
  
-End of Chapter Twenty-One-  
  
  
  
Sorry for the small length, but I've had writer's block for so freaking long. -_-  
  
Don't worry, hopefully my writing groove is returning. Oh yeah, and this is one of those chapters where it's mostly transitional and...stuff...next chapter will be more detailed, more coherent, and longer, I promise. x_x  
  
Please rate and review, and yes, I know, this is pretty crappy compared to past chapters... 


	22. Betraying The Devil

Author's Note:   
  
Thanks goes to (In Order of Appearance for all chapters so far): random echo, Claire Burnside267, a reader, diddly day, Zil, Tasha Burnside, Umbrella-Experiment, Parasite Lin, Biohazard 101, Cand, Queen Kristina, Apokruphos, Redfield 99, Yumi Konoe, Chandler01, Lyger, Chicky Tifa, D-2Artemis, Shin, Simon552, Jimbo Jones, claire3407, Squall Leonhart, Mayaku, President Evil, ashford2ashford, The Elvish Vampire Seira, Felicia, Mayumi-H, Mossberg, Serena, Dragonchan, Lily, Reazher, Wesker, iMac722, Diamond Angel, Rayne18, Joanne Beverly, Neromancer 13, and Misterbuu!  
  
Thanks goes to the reviewers of Chapter Twenty-One: Serena, Dragonchan, Mossberg, Rayne18, Joanne Beverly, Neromancer 13, Diamond Angel, and Misterbuu!  
  
A quick note: This story just happens to jive a bit with my story "Shattered Mirror" since there's a few references to it and such. Rebecca's so cool.  
  
No matter what, I am going to finish this story...so don't worry.  
  
On with yet another chapter...  
  
  
  
  
- Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -  
- By Brian Marcelo -  
- brianmarcelo@hotmail.com -  
- Rated R. -  
  
  
  
  
- Betraying the Devil -  
- Chapter Twenty-Two -  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Chris had had enough. Not only did Wesker kill his sister in cold blood, but now he was threatening to kill another person that Chris cared about so much, Jill Valentine. The only thing that was keeping him together after Claire's death was Jill, and the love that she brought to Chris' restless soul.   
  
No matter what happened to him, Chris was going to do everything he could to prevent what happened to his teammates and...Claire...happen to the last important thing in his life...  
  
"Wesker! I won't let you take anymore lives!" yelled Chris, his voice booming with rage as he fired round after round at his former Captain, who didn't even bother to move as the bullets pierced his gray, inhuman skin.  
  
"Is that all you've got?" Wesker said haughtily, as he mockingly waved his combat knife, "because if it is, I'm terribly afraid Jill won't have much time left..."  
  
Chris could only clench in teeth in anger as Wesker waved the knife around, realizing the futility of his attack. If he couldn't stop him, then how could he protect Jill as well as avenge Claire...? Even though everything started to look bleak, Chris wouldn't give up, no matter what he had to do to win...  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
"Put your hands behind your head," she said sternly, taking the safety off the handgun, "and tell me what the hell is happening here."  
  
He only smirked as he turned around to face her, looking amused at the sight of Claire holding a gun at him. "Haven't we done this before?"  
  
"Shut up!" she said coldly, as she fired a warning shot near his head, "I know you're not Steve...this is all just some elaborate illusion, isn't it? Now, who are you, and what is going on here?"  
  
"Oh, now you figure it out? Even though that big scary Tyrant practically told you earlier, huh?" he said, as though everything was just a joke to him.  
  
Her eyes grew wide with disbelief. "You mean..."   
  
He walked right up to her, his face just inches away from hers, and said, with a maniacal sneer, "Yeah, you're in Hell. And that's because you--"  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
"...Died...she...she...didn't she die...?" Leon managed to mumble out, thinking it was impossible that Ada Wong was standing just a few feet away from him...  
  
'Standing right now to Wesker...' he mentally told himself, still in slight shock from those two, together, side-by-side.  
  
Leon looked sadly at Ada, wondering how she could ever go back to being on the side of evil. 'She couldn't possibly be working together with Wesker...after everything she and I went through during Raccoon City...this just can't be happening...'  
  
Meanwhile, Ada kept trying not to look at Leon's face, her heart feeling like it was breaking from just seeing the expression his face. Just a minute ago she was staring longingly at him, the one person she ever truly loved, and now she was trying her best not to even glance his way. Even though she couldn't see him, she knew that he was undoubtedly shocked, and perhaps even heart-broken at her decision to help Wesker.  
  
'I'm sorry Leon...' she thought to herself, as she tried to regain her composure, 'If there was only someway I could make things right...'  
  
And in a flash of understanding, it came to her. A way to make things right, or at least, redeem her for being on Wesker's side.  
  
'Poor Wesker though...' she thought, 'all he wanted to do in his life was to become a hero like Superman...but that lust for power corrupted him, making his childhood dream into some perverted nightmare...'  
  
She shook her head to try and clear it up, focusing at the task at hand. If she did this, she'd risk losing everything, but at least...she would know she had done the right thing.  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Rebecca, Barry, and Carlos weren't sure what to do. They feared that firing at Wesker would only provoke him more into killing one of them, or even all of them, so they were waiting for the right time to strike. Besides that, they felt that they should let Chris have his revenge on what Wesker did to all of them, since his sister now lay dead.  
  
Carlos tilted his head towards Steve, who looked like he was ready to strike at anytime. Plastered on to his face was a look of pure anger, not unlike Chris', which was sort of unsettling. There was no telling what someone like Steve would do, especially since the only people who really knew him was Claire, and well, she was dead. Carlos could only assume that the guy had gotten pretty close to Claire, so close that he was ready to kill Wesker as soon as the opportunity presented itself.  
  
Rebecca on the other hand, drifted back to what had happened before all this. Wesker...she had ruined her life so completely in the past that she had been become a shell of a former self. Besides killing all her teammates, Wesker had killed the only person she had ever loved, Richard Aiken. It still was killing her inside that she couldn't even save Richard, despite the fact that she was a biochemist and a medic. He had saved her from that huge snake, only to be eaten by a damned T-virus infected shark as he tried to save Chris.  
  
When Chris had told her that Richard had died saving him, she couldn't help but feel angry deep down at him, because not only was Chris indirectly responsible for Richard dying, but to add insult to injury, he was holding Richard's custom shotgun in his hands.  
  
'Why did you have to pick that up? Couldn't you let him at least die with his treasured weapon?! After all, you're responsible for his death!' she had thought darkly at the time, despite the fact that she knew she was being unreasonable in judging Chris. After all, they were friends, and she knew that Chris would've done the same thing that Richard had done for him; besides, they would need all the firepower they could get their hands on if they had hoped to escape the mansion. Later she was thankful that he had managed upon Richard's custom S.T.A.R.S. shotgun, seeing as how she was able to bury it along with some of Richard's other treasured S.T.A.R.S. trinkets in a small coffin, since there was obviously no body to bury.  
  
Poor Chris. Rebecca felt deeply sorry for Chris, especially since she knew what he was going through. Claire was just a bit older then Rebecca, and often Chris mentioned how similar they were, making Rebecca feel as though she had a connection with the female Redfield. Too bad she would never get a chance to see how similar she was to Claire, now that poor Claire was--  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
"Dead...?" she quietly whispered out, "I'm...dead...?"  
  
She couldn't believe it, despite her current location, plus the fact that a Tyrant and something resembling Steve had plainly told her what she had been dreading. When she first arrived had arrived here, wherever here was, she had thought this place was suppose to be Hell. Once she saw Steve, she couldn't possibly believe that this place was Hell. However, it looks like once again, Hell made sure that she knew where she was.  
  
It was sort of funny in a way, since she as well as her brother weren't really brought up learning all about the Bible and such; their parents had thought it was better to simply instill morals and values in them, instead of confusing them with literature that often contradicted itself, as well as being somewhat outdated in these modern times.  
  
"But mommy, won't we go to Hell for not reading the Bible?" she recalled saying, being ever so curious at the tender age of six.  
  
Her mother had gasped and asked her why she would ask something like that, which Claire replied with the classic "a friend at school told me that today" line.  
  
"My silly Claire..." her mom had said, giving Claire a big hug, "just because we don't read the Bible doesn't mean we don't believe in God. It's just that daddy and me believe that all you need to do is to just be the bestest person you can be, and do lots of good things. So don't you worry about going to Hell or anything, kay my little Claire?"  
  
Claire couldn't help laughing a little at the irony. After all the good she did in her relatively short life, it was not enough to let her into whatever lay ahead.   
  
Had her mother been wrong about her beliefs...?   
  
It didn't matter now, because she was dragged down to here, probably to spend the rest of eternity here, unless...  
  
"So, are you gonna stop pointing that gun at me yet?" said the fake Steve in a cocky tone which quickly grew menacing, "Are am I going to have to make you...?"  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Leon gasped loudly in shock as he got a better look at Ada's eyes; they were eerily yellow, and the pupils were slitted...  
  
'Her eyes are just like...Weskers'...!' his minded yell to him as he continued to stare in disbelief.  
  
Now it all made sense, how she was still alive, and why she was with Wesker. She was changed into a something inhuman, just like Wesker.   
  
Leon's anger started rising as he stared now at Wesker, wondering how something so evil could be in this world. Not only did he kill the woman he loved, but also he made a monster out of a girl he once loved.  
  
Slowly, as to not make it seem obvious, he reached for his shotgun, wanting to get his own shot at Wesker.  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Steve stood numbly, watching Chris, the big brother of the girl he loved, and Wesker, the murderer of that same girl, exchanging words, both with acid in their tones.  
  
What Steve wouldn't give just to have his own shot against Wesker. Everyone here had a grudge against him, but Steve knew that he, as well as Chris and Leon, were the ones who should be given the right to avenge the death of their beloved Claire. It didn't matter to Steve at the moment that he and Leon loved the same girl, since he didn't want to disrespect her memory any further then it had been. They were both united against a common enemy, one so vile that he could only be compared to a demon at the least.  
  
'I've been dead before...I'll gladly die again if it means I can avenge you, Claire...' Steve thought to himself, as he slowly raised one of his sub-machine guns, apparently having the same thoughts as Leon, although neither could see what the other was doing.  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Alexia Ashford smiled lightly as she kept her steady pace towards the Eiffel Tower, confident that she'd have the city of Paris under her control in a matter of hours.  
  
"I've always wanted to have my own city of slaves," she thought cheerfully, her pace quickening in excitement, "and since those dreaded Redfields are here, I'll be able to kill two birds with one stone!"  
  
The thought of killing those Redfields was exciting to her, almost as exciting as taking over a whole city. Sure, she could torture them for days on end until their bodies died slowly, but she had more important matters to attend to. For example, she always wanted a whole country or two to herself.   
  
She sighed as she quickened her pace. 'It isn't easy being the most powerful, not to mention most beautiful, woman in the world, but I refuse to be anything else then perfection.'  
  
Alexia stopped dead in her tracks when she realized that someone had been following her. Her hearing, which was unfortunately only normal, was unable to hear the rather loud footsteps that had started to quicken their own pace to keep up with her's.  
  
She turned around, only to laugh a bit as she stared down her would-be stalker. "Ah, you must be that rather dirty and ugly Nemesis, I presume?"  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Hunk found that finding someone like Alexia Ashford wasn't exactly easy in a city as big as Paris. First, he had gotten lost tracking her, and almost ran into what appeared to be the Nemesis-B. He supposed that it was sent out prior to the destruction of Umbrella, but he wasn't quite sure who the target would've been. For all he knew, the Nemesis could've simply been able to escape the building at around the same time Hunk had.  
  
The lone soldier kept on running as fast as he could, hoping to see a glimpse of Alexia, hoping to have his questions answered, and his curiosity quenched. He was surprised with himself that he was actually stalking her technically. He was simply enthralled by her, for some mysterious reason unknown to him.  
  
Hunk stopped running when he realized that he could make out a woman in a purple dress and a huge guy in a black trench coat standing near the Eiffel Tower.   
  
"Looks like lady luck is on Mr. Death's side today..." he said with a sneer as he ran towards the two, clutching his shotgun in case there was going to be trouble.  
  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Wesker smiled darkly as he adjusted his black sunglasses. "So what are you planning to do now, Redfield?"  
  
Chris felt hopeless. There was nothing he could do; he knew that he couldn't win just by shooting at him now that Wesker was just like Alexia Ashford, he didn't have access to a Linear Launcher, and he had no chance in hell fighting hand-to-hand, unless he had a vial of whatever Wesker had taken to bring himself back to life after he had been impaled by that Tyrant back in the mansion.  
  
'What am I thinking? I would never stoop to using something like that...I wouldn't dare think of becoming something even remotely like Wesker, but--' thought Chris, who's thoughts were cut short as Wesker made a tsk-tsk sound.  
  
"Tsk, Redfield, you've run out of plans already? But all you've done is shoot at me! Heh, is that the best you've got?" said Wesker, as his tone started to become even more menacing, "I guess that means it's my turn to strike!"  
  
Chris could only gasp in horror as he looked at Jill, who looked terrified, which was very uncharacteristic for her. Everything appeared in slow motion as his human eyes struggled to keep up with Wesker as he ran inhumanly fast next to Jill, knocking over Leon and Steve on the way. Jill attempted to dodge, only to be caught by the arm as Wesker paused, savoring the moment.  
  
Wesker sneered as he held the knife triumphantly over Jill's head, who was struggling as hard as she could from his vice-like grip. "Say goodbye to Jill, Chris, because this is the last time you'll-"  
  
Before Chris, Barry, Rebecca, and Carlos could manage to aim and shoot, Wesker's little speech was cut short as he crashed against a wall roughly, causing cracks to appear in it's foundation. Jill quickly ran to Chris' side as they all attempted to find who had freed Jill from her would-be murderer.  
  
Leon stared in disbelief once again as he was the first to notice the one that had forcefully shoved Wesker aside from Jill...   
  
"...Ada...?"  
  
  
  
  
- End of Chapter Twenty-Two -  
  
  
  
  
There you have it, I finally completed Chapter Twenty-Two. Now to start working on Chapter Three for Shattered Mirror and Chapter Three for Night On the Town. Don't worry about Chapter Twenty-Three for this story however, it'll be worked on just as well.  
  
And yes, this story will be completed, no matter what happens! Some extra special thanks for reader Serena, who inspired me to finish pretty much everything in this chapter last night. ^_^; Also to Mossberg, for the tips on writing, as well as helping me get some damned inspiration. ^_^  
  
As usual, please rate and review! ^_^  
  
  
  
  
Sneak Peak at Chapter Twenty-Three:  
  
  
  
  
Wesker groaned as he attempted to lift himself, feeling surprised to feel pain in his backside. He looked up to see that his attacker was the one person he didn't expect to betray him, after everything he had done for her. He had brought her back to life when he could've just left her to die, and now, here she was, taking a fighting stance, her eyes staring back at his.  
  
'I even told you I wanted to be like Superman...what I fool was I...' Wesker thought with a angry scowl as he stood and dusted himself off, unsure of what he was going to do now that his only partner betrayed him. 


	23. The Sacrifice

Author's Note:   
  
Thanks goes to (In Order of Appearance for all chapters so far): random echo, Claire Burnside267, a reader, diddly day, Zil, Tasha Burnside, Umbrella-Experiment, Parasite Lin, Biohazard 101, Cand, Queen Kristina, Apokruphos, Redfield 99, Yumi Konoe, Chandler01, Lyger, Chicky Tifa, D-2Artemis, Shin, Simon552, Jimbo Jones, claire3407, Squall Leonhart, Mayaku, President Evil, ashford2ashford, The Elvish Vampire Seira, Felicia, Mayumi-H, Mossberg, Serena, Dragonchan, Lily, Reazher, Wesker, iMac722, Diamond Angel, Rayne18, Joanne Beverly, Neromancer 13, Misterbuu, Bloodlover, Steel Soul, and Kenneth Sullivan!  
  
Thanks goes to the reviewers of Chapter Twenty-Two: Bloodlover, Joanne Bverly (twice!), Claire Burnside267, Mossberg, BioHazard 101, Mayaku, Steel Soul, The Elvish Vamp Seira, Kenneth Sullivan, Serena, Misterbuu, Diamond Angel, and theothertj!  
  
Sorry. Sorry. And sorry. I know this chapter is late, but I've been working on Spider-Man related stories for a while. Go read some of them; you'll love them. Anyways, enough of me plugging my stuff, time for story...time!  
  
By the way, this is re-written with new scenes with Chris, Jill, and Barry as they look at the fight between our two combatants.  
  
On with yet another chapter...  
  
  
  
  
- Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -  
- By Brian Marcelo -  
- brianmarcelo@hotmail.com -  
- Rated R for violence and language -  
  
  
  
  
- The Sacrifice -  
- Chapter Twenty-Three -  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Wesker groaned as he attempted to lift himself, feeling surprised to feel pain in his backside. He looked up to see that his attacker was the one person he didn't expect to betray him, after everything he had done for her. He had brought her back to life when he could've just left her to die, and now, here she was, taking a fighting stance, her yellow tinted eyes staring right back at his own, although his were covered with black sunglasses.  
  
'I even told you I wanted to be like Superman...what I fool was I...' Wesker thought with an angry scowl as he stood and dusted himself off, unsure of what he was going to do now that his only partner had betrayed him.  
  
Of course, he could always kill her.  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Claire clenched her stomach in pain as she fell to the floor, her handgun *conveniently* out of her reach.  
  
That fake Steve actually shot *her*! That bastard actually had the nerve to shoot *her*!  
  
She tried looking up at her killer, only to see that he was smiling happily at the sight of her trying to hold the blood from seeping out from the multiple bullet holes imbedded in her stomach.  
  
"Now you know how it's like to get shot at...hehe...hehe...!" was the last thing she heard him say before her body went limp and her vision was blanketed by darkness.  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Hunk watched from behind a building as he watched Alexia Ashford insulting the Nemesis as if he were just a big bully.  
  
"Dammit. There's no way in hell I'm going to get in between two monsters. Hell no. I may be crazy, but I know when not to mess with two of the most powerful creatures in the world." he said, as he held his shotgun ready, "I'll just wait until she finishes it off, then I'll get to talk to her myself."  
  
Listening closely, he heard Alexia Ashford call Nemesis "ugly as hell".  
  
"...Damn, I think she's the only one ballsy enough to actually insult that freak of nature like that..." he said with a smirk, "She's crazier then me."  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
"Did anyone ever tell you that you're quite an ugly little beast?" Alexia said with a smirk, as she stared down the hulking nightmare.  
  
"I just can't believe they sent something so ugly to dispose of someone so beautiful such as myself. It's as if stitched you together from old garbage and poured a little T-virus on to you. You definitely smell like it."  
  
The Nemesis, with its limited brain capacity, decided it was time to end his little hunt, especially it's prey talked too much. With an inhuman growl, he dashed at her, it's tentacle poised to strike and impale her right through her skull.  
  
"ALEXIA!"  
  
Alexia laughed a bit as she turned up the heat around her, causing her entire body to transform one more into her T-Veronica form. Not wasting another second, she backhanded the Nemesis, causing him to fly back against a brick wall with a loud crash.  
  
A bigger then usual group of people started forming around the area, watching the fight with interest, thinking it was some simple publicity stunt, or perhaps filming an action scene for a television show or movie. Nothing surprised people these days.  
  
Alexia laughed quietly as she watched the spectators become larger. They were all so simple minded, just like ants.  
  
Soon of course, they would all become her loyal ants, to obey her every whim.  
  
"Might as well put on a show for them before they become my slaves..." she said, this time advancing towards the Nemesis who was groaning loudly in pain, "I just the most generous queen ever...haha..."  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Claire awoke groggily, wondering where she was this time. As she tried to move, she realized she couldn't move at all, save for her head. Opening her eyes, she was staring up at a very bright light.  
  
"Heaven?" she said in quiet, almost childlike voice.   
  
Was this really it...?  
  
Was she redeemed for killing all those people...?  
  
Was she finally allowed to see her parents again...?  
  
"I'm sorry Ms. Redfield, but this certainly isn't Heaven, I'm afraid." said someone kindly, pity in their voice.  
  
"Wha...where am I?" Claire squeaked out, wondering if she had come back to life, as a zombie.  
  
Wait, she thought, zombies can't talk. Then what happened?  
  
"Raccoon City Mental Institute, Miss." said another voice, female this time. She sounded strangely familiar.  
  
"Wha...what the hell...?" Claire said, starting to feel panicked, "What the hell are you talking about...?"  
  
"You were admitted her by your brother, Chris Redfield, Captain of the S.T.A.R.S." said a smaller voice, which sounded like...Sherry...?  
  
"Why would Chris do that? Since when was he Captain of the S.T.A.R.S....?" said Claire, her voice showing fear.  
  
"You killed over thirty-three people, Ms. Redfield. Half of them were police officers. Some of them included Lt. Jill Valentine, Ensign Rebecca Chambers, and Captain Albert Wesker, from the S.T.A.R.S, which explains why your brother's the Captain." said the male voice, as he turned off the bright light that had been plaguing Claire's vision.  
  
"You even injured your brother. I'm afraid he no longer has use of his left arm in case you're wondering." said the female doctor.  
  
"Wha...what...why would I do such a thing...?" Claire said, starting to go into shock.  
  
"You said it yourself when the police finally restrained you. You said something like...wait, let me check the police reports..." said the Sherry sound-alike again, "Oh yeah...you said 'Get off me, you zombies! Don't make me have to shoot the rest of you!' I believe."  
  
At this point, Claire couldn't believe what was happening. As she tilted her head weakly up, she looked into the faces of the doctors who were explaining everything to her.  
  
"Dr. William Birkin...Dr. Annette Birkin...and...Sherry Birkin...?" she said, wondering if she was going insane.  
  
She wondered if Raccoon City...Rockfort and Antarctica...Paris...had all been a nightmare that she was experiencing while causing a nightmare to happen in real life.  
  
Claire did the only thing one would do in her situation; she screamed as loudly as she could.  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Ada stood defiantly as she watched Wesker dusting himself off, wondering what his next move would be. He was looking at her with eyes filled with anger and rage. He definitely wasn't going to forgive her after her betrayal, but she hoped he would understand why.  
  
Out of the corner of her eye she could see Leon, smiling happily at her. She felt warmth just looking at the handsome smile of his...that simple smile that assured her that everything would be all right. The smile that reassured her that what she was doing was the right choice, even if she was going to get severely injured first.  
  
But she didn't care, as long as he kept on smiling.  
  
"One...two...three!" Chris whispered loudly, before he and Jill both shot at Wesker while he was distracted looking at Ada. Surprisingly, the combined firepower of the shotguns they were both given by Barry managed to faze him quite a bit, before he shook the bullets off his body.  
  
"Dammit..." Jill said, as she started to reload her shotgun, only stopped by Ada.  
  
"No...let me take care of him everybody..." she said, not taking her eyes off Wesker, who looked poised to strike, "I'm the only one equipped to do any real damage to him now..."  
  
Despite the fact that everyone in the group wanted a piece of Wesker, they all resigned to watching the fight, seeing as how everything they threw at Wesker only showed them how much more powerful he had become. This was especially hard for Chris and Steve, who both wanted to avenge Claire. Chris restrained himself after recalling his previous hand-to-hand fight with Wesker, where he barely escaped with his life.  
  
Leon, however, was too busy feeling all warm and fuzzy inside now that Ada was on their side.  
  
But Leon couldn't help feeling guilty inside, because Claire was death, yet he was happy that Ada was back from the dead. Love was a confusing, cruel, cold mistress that much he was sure of.  
  
Wesker took off his sunglasses, which made caused Ada to feel unnerved a bit; he never took off his sunglasses.  
  
"You betrayed me, Ada. After everything I've done for you, you cold hearted bitch." he said coldly, without any remorse.  
  
Ada shivered at his cold words. "It's not like I wanted it to come to this Wesker, especially after you opened up to me--"  
  
"Enough!" Wesker bellowed, and before she knew it, Wesker had started running full speed at her, ready to pounce. She dodged out of the way and jabbed him in the ribs, causing him to stop for a second to get his bearings.  
  
"Wesker...you've become what the exact opposite of what you wanted to be!" she said, panting slightly as she took a defensive stance.  
  
"It was only a childish dream!" he said, jumping at her, complete with blurry after images behind him. Again she dodged, this time hitting him in the stomach harder then her last shot.  
  
Chris looked at Wesker oddly, wondering what the hell he was talking about. Childish dreams? Becoming the exact opposite of what he always wanted to be? Chris had always assumed Wesker was grouchy as their Captain, and horrible after the mansion incident.   
  
Jill watched the fight in interest, glad to see that Ada was currently winning against Wesker. She hated the whole "males always win against female" thing, and right now she was pissed that Wesker dared to take her as a hostage, to be rescued as if she was a damsel in distress.   
  
"Wesker, why won't you let your dream come true? You have the power to do good now!" Ada said, as she tried to parry a barrage of punches coming her way.  
  
"Spare me your speech of doing good! Now that I have power I know what it's really all about...dominating those weaker then you!" he said, catching her square in the face.  
  
His face was emotionless, with no smile nor frown on his lips. He merely took advantage of the situation and started hitting her in the stomach, ribs, arms, legs, and face over again as fast as he could. Nothing was going to stop his rage.  
  
Ada tried in vain to block his erratic punches and kicks, not talking as to preserve her strength and to keep focus. It was no use talking to Wesker, he was too angry and stubborn to listen. Gradually he was starting to wear her down, and she was scared, wondering what she was going to do if she was too weak to fight.  
  
Leon's smile turned into a scared expression, noticing that while Ada was getting weaker, Wesker appeared only to keep on hitting harder. He could actually hear the punches and kicks...they sounded like bricks hitting each other. How long could Ada stand this much punishment from a monster like Wesker...?  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Chris watched the fight, wishing he could be doing the fighting instead of Ada. He knew that if he had the same powers as Ada and Wesker, he could definitely win the fight. After all, he had so much bent up rage from everything he had gone through that Wesker wouldn't be able to stop his emotional rampage.   
  
No one, and he meant no one would stop him from avenging the deaths of his sister and teammates, even if it meant he had to make sacrifices.  
  
If only he was the one fighting instead of Ada, who was looking like she was weakening, while Wesker was only getting stronger.  
  
Chris couldn't do anything, since he was only a regular human with a gun. If only he had access to whatever made Wesker what he was, maybe he'd have a fighting chance.  
  
Perhaps he'd lose his humanity, but he'd make sure that Claire hadn't lost hers entirely in vain.  
  
No matter what it cost him, he would make sure that Wesker wouldn't be able to hurt any more people.  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Alexia yawned daintily as she kicked Nemesis hard in its side hard, causing a sickening crack to be heard by all.   
  
"Awww...that sounded like it hurt...poor ugly thing..." Alexia said in mock-sadness, before kicking him it and again as if it was a disgusting thing like a dog. Feeling the need for a challenge, she stopped and stepped back, waiting for it to get back up.   
  
Wearily, the Nemesis got up, with half its arm gone and it's left leg broken the point where it simply started hanging there. She laughed as it tried to walk over to her, only to have it look like it was hopping on one foot.  
  
"ALEXIA...ALEXIA...ALEXIA...!" it growled over and over in pain, as it struggled to reach her with it's tentacle. Alexia didn't flinch, nor move at all. She simply stood there as he got close enough to plunge its tentacle in to her face. The Nemesis was actually surprised that it's prey wasn't moving, but decided to waste no more time as it aggressively used its tentacle to impale her, only to have it disappear.  
  
Alexia had ripped its entire tentacle right out of the socket, causing the Nemesis to growl loudly at her. Alexia smiled in sadistic glee as she threw the tentacle away and impaled the Nemesis right through its chest, using only her hand.  
  
Everyone gasped in surprise as she used both her legs in spectacular style to kick the Nemesis away once more onto the concrete ground with another sickening crack.  
  
"You may be ugly, but you certainly are the most amusing punching bag I've ever had." she said as she stood over the Nemesis, before she started ripping it apart, piece by bloody piece, making the whole crowd gasp in horror and wonder if this was an actual fight between two horrific monsters or merely more special effects for a movie.  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Barry looked at the fight solemnly as he noticed the girl he had barely met already losing in her fight against the S.T.A.R.S' murderous ex-Captain.  
  
'If only I had killed him when I had the chance...' Barry said, reflecting to the mansion incident, 'I had so many clear shots, but I was too scared that he would have hurt my family if I hadn't complied with his orders...'  
  
His friends had forgiven him, but Barry still could not forgive himself. He rationalized that he could've prevented the entire thing from happening...that he could've exposed Umbrella if only he hadn't teared up all that vital evidence back in the mansion.  
  
If only he could undo the sins he had done in the past, would he not have to endure such a bleak future.  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Jill wished she could fight against Wesker. He was the reason for her nightmares at night...he was responsible for Raccoon City becoming a nuclear wasteland that wouldn't be a safe place to live for decades...he was responsible for Claire's death and Chris' descent into obsessive revenge...  
  
If only she had the strength needed to fight. She was a survivor, but Wesker was something far more evil then the Nemesis ever was. The nightmarish stalker in Raccoon City was programmed to kill; Wesker simply did it for fun.  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Ada felt weak and bruised all over as Wesker held her by the neck with one hand, the look on his face emotionless, which made it hard for her to predict what he was going to do.  
  
She tried to kick at him, only to have him block easily and punch her savagely in the stomach, causing her to shriek out in pain. Then he did it again, only harder, which made her gasp and shriek at the same time.   
  
Again, he hit her harder then the last, making her shriek harder.  
  
Leon couldn't take it anymore. He took out his custom shotgun and pointed it at Wesker, saying, "Let her go Wesker! She can't do anything to you anymore!"  
  
Wesker could only stare at him blankly, not fearing the young rookie cop since bullets and shells couldn't dent his rock-like skin.  
  
"She's done more then enough to me..." Wesker said coldly as he returned his glance to Ada, who was still struggling in his grip despite the fact that she was very much beaten.  
  
Ada looked at Leon with fear in eyes, whispering to him as loudly as he could.  
  
"I love you Leon...please don't forget me..." she said hoarsely, tears starting to trickle down her cheeks.  
  
"Your sacrifice for them was in vain, Ada..." Wesker said as he looked into her yellow tinted eyes, "Now it's time for you to die."  
  
"I'm sorry Wesker." Ada said quietly, which caused Wesker to punch her in the face in anger.  
  
"Time for you to die!"  
  
Time seemed to slow down for Leon as Wesker put Ada in a headlock, and, without another word from either of the two fighters, he snapped her neck with a sickening crack.  
  
Leon could only watch on in horror as she fell to the floor in a slump, not believing he had witnessed another loved one die in the same day.  
  
"Ada....." was all he could say, before slumping to his knees in defeat.  
  
  
  
  
- End of Chapter Twenty-Three -  
  
  
  
  
Ack, I'm not quite happy with how this chapter turned out. I think it feels a bit bland and rushed in the first half, but probably because I'm felt really tired while writing this. The second half I'm happy with though. Hopefully the next chapter will be better and more exciting. Please tell me how I can improve, I'd appreciate it.  
  
As usual with everything I do, please rate and review! ^_^  
  
In the next chapter, the Queen will infect her virus, creating new T-Veronica monsters in the process... 


	24. Infection

Author's Note:   
  
Thanks goes to (In Order of Appearance for all chapters so far): random echo, Claire Burnside267, a reader, diddly day, Zil, Tasha Burnside, Umbrella-Experiment, Parasite Lin, Biohazard 101, Cand, Queen Kristina, Apokruphos, Redfield 99, Yumi Konoe, Chandler01, Lyger, Chicky Tifa, D-2Artemis, Shin, Simon552, Jimbo Jones, claire3407, Squall Leonhart, Mayaku, President Evil, ashford2ashford, The Elvish Vampire Seira, Felicia, Mayumi-H, Mossberg, Serena, Dragonchan, Lily, Reazher, Wesker, iMac722, Diamond Angel, Rayne18, Joanne Beverly, Neromancer 13, Misterbuu, Bloodlover, Steel Soul, Kenneth Sullivan, Agent X, and kolld steel!  
  
Thanks goes to the reviewers of Chapter Twenty-Three: Biohazard 101, Misterbuu, Agent X, SteelSoul, Serena, kolld steel, kolld steel, Bloodlover, Diamond Angel, and Joanne Beverly!  
  
I wasn't happy with how 23 was written, so this time I'm hoping 24 will be written much better. After all, I'm in High School now so I must upgrade my writing skillz.  
  
On with yet another chapter...  
  
  
  
  
- Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -  
- By Brian Marcelo -  
- brianmarcelo@hotmail.com -  
- Rated R for violence and language -  
  
  
  
  
- Infection -  
- Chapter Twenty-Four -  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Alexia Ashford smiled in admiration of her grisly handiwork. She had single-handedly defeated the Nemesis and had taken him apart piece by piece simply to shock the crowd, then proceeding to burn it with her ability to dispense her 'royal' blood that immediately set on fire when in contact with oxygen.  
  
Her smile widened as the pieces of Nemesis burned more intensely, causing the people surrounding the area to smell the stench of burning flesh. Some started panicking, realizing this might somehow be real, and not just some crazy publicity stunt. Still others were ever more curious and came closer, despite the horrid stench.  
  
Alexia normally detested exerting herself physically, rather having servants do her work, but she took special pleasure in defeating a previously unbeatable foe. She wanted to show that nothing would get in her way.  
  
Noticing the crowd coming closer, she decided to punish them for being so curious. With a gleeful laugh she started spraying people with her blood, causing them to instantly catch fire, making them all run screaming as chaos started to ensue in the crowd.  
  
  
"They all scatter when there's danger, just like ants..." she observed, heading towards the Eiffel Tower's elevator, unaware that a certain agent was following her a few feet away in the shadows.  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Wesker didn't notice Leon falling to his knees in defeat, nor did he notice the wide-eyed gazes from everyone else.   
  
For some reason, all he could do was stare at Ada's body, her neck broken in several places, her body not moving a single inch.  
  
She was dead, and he killed her. With his bare hands he had snapped her neck and ended her life, after everything they had been through. She was once his trusted partner and confidant, someone who could be as cold and detached from emotions as he, yet she betrayed him for the young and enthusiastic rookie cop.  
  
Why would she do that to him?  
  
Wesker couldn't believe what was happening now...he was actually feeling this time...feeling remorse for what he had done to one of his only friends.   
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
During Claire's 'little' outburst she had been forced down by a couple of guards while Dr. William Birkin injected her with a sedative to help her relax a bit.  
  
When she had awoken at last, she was quiet, not speaking or uttering a single word, instead, staring up at the ceiling in defeat. She was unable to do anything, especially in the strait jacket they had put her in. At first she thought she was in a world gone mad, but now, perhaps, she was the one who was insane all along.  
  
Dr. William Birkin looked exactly the way he was pictured in Sherry's locket, which made sense. Maybe she had imagined this psychiatric, soft-spoken doctor as the villain in her own little world; this also applied to Annette Birkin. Yet Sherry reminded the same, although here she was older, about the age of nineteen. Apparently the whole Birkin family was treating her illness.  
  
Her mind drifted back to what Dr. Birkin had told her. She had killed over thirty-three, which had included Rebecca Chambers, Jill Valentine, and Albert Wesker. Even Chris was injured in the firefight, and now he longer had use of his left arm.  
  
For some reason, she started recalling parts of the fight...she was in the Raccoon City Police Precinct...her brother and Jill were showing her around the various offices...meeting the S.T.A.R.S. members...then everything went blank again.  
  
It wasn't making sense at all...how could she had imagined all the events from riding into Raccoon City, to meeting Leon Kennedy and Sherry Birkin, from infiltrating Umbrella HQ, being thrown on to Rockfort Island and meeting Steve, along with getting killed by Wesker in Paris...had it been all one big nightmare?  
  
As she leaned against the soft, padded wall of her cell, more memories started to invade her head, causing her to reel back slightly in pain. She started to remember more of her tour...remembering shaking hands with each of the S.T.A.R.S. members, which would've been impossible since she had only seen their faces in that group picture of the S.T.A.R.S. she had come across during her "nightmare". At least, that's what she thought. The next memory was that of meeting Chief Brian Irons and Albert Wesker, although this time the Chief looked happy, looking jolly in fact. Albert Wesker still looked a little cold and mysterious, but he smiled when he had shaken her hand as well. A real genuine smile if she had ever saw one.  
  
The next memory was that of meeting a young, brash cop who looked like Leon, who had a more youthful looking Ada Wong holding his hand. For some reason, she was wearing a R.P.D. uniform as well, although in her "nightmare" she was portrayed as a shady spy working for an unknown company. The third memory was that of meeting another young cop, who looked strikingly similar to Steve Burnside. He had sheepishly smiled and greeted her, proceeded to try and impress her, then had accidentally spilled coffee on her, which had elicited a sigh from Chris, a slight giggle from Jill, and a burning sensation on Claire's legs as she yelped.  
  
It was starting to make more sense for Claire. She had studied psychology in college (at least she think she did) and had determined that maybe everyone she had met during her tour of the R.P.D. manifested themselves into important roles in her "nightmare". Chris, for example, became unbelievably heroic, going so far as to track her down to Antarctica. Leon Kennedy had become the romantic sort of hero, falling in love with Ada Wong at first sight despite the fact that she was a spy, then later falling for herself.  
  
Steve Burnside...the show-off with a heart of gold, who always tried to impress her at every stop, even to the point of overriding his primal urge to kill her.  
  
Claire had to know who else she had killed...did she also kill Leon, Ada, and Steve as well? She started banging on the door with her body, hoping to talk with Dr. William Birkin about what happened...  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Hunk cautiously walked after Alexia using the shadows as cover, wondering what she would do to him if she stopped him. She seemed intent on reaching the Eiffel Tower, no doubt that she was going to use it for something far more devious then simply getting a better view of the city.  
  
It was odd seeing people running around on fire, while others lay dead, still burning brightly. It reminded him of Raccoon City...all those dead bodies, all those fires raging around him, trying to find some way of escaping with the G-Virus sample. He wondered if Umbrella had created anything with the G-Virus, like some sort of "Adam" or "Lilith" sorta thing, especially since most mad scientists these days loved pretending to be God.  
  
Hunk sometimes wondered if he'd ever die in combat with anyone or thing. He had faced William Birkin and lived, a whole precinct of infected monstrosities, and Mr. X to boot. Now that he was about to face Alexia Ashford, he wondered what it would be like to die. Would it be a intensely painful experience or a quiet, anti-climatic end?  
  
She was just about to reach the elevator. Better now then never to ask quench his curiosity.  
  
He aimed his handgun carefully and fired, making the bullet hit the elevator door, a warning shot for Alexia not to advance further.  
  
Alexia Ashford slowly turned around to face Hunk, and a smile appeared on her lips, impressed that a mere human dared to fire upon her. She was beginning to grow tired of having to wait to rule over Paris, so she decided she was going to make this fight a tad quicker.  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Leon's knees had been scraped roughly when he landed on his knees as he watched Ada die, but he didn't care nor did he even notice the burning sensation.  
  
Ada was dead. Another person he loved was dead. Killed by the same person. Not even a person. He was a monster. Just like those Tyrants. Just a monster. A monster that killed Ada.  
  
He wanted to cry out in rage, strike down Wesker with his bare fists and kill him right there and then, but he knew he couldn't. He was on the verge of breaking down, but he knew that he alone couldn't find someone as powerful as Wesker. Wesker was the definition of a monster, even if he did look slightly human.  
  
No. Couldn't be human. He sold his soul to the devil for power.  
  
Leon's thoughts were becoming slightly irrational as he slowly started to stand up, feeling the stinging sensation on his knees.   
  
Leon's face still looked down, unsure of how he'd react if he saw the monster before him.   
  
He had to do something, anything to make sure Ada and Claire hadn't died in vain.  
  
But how could a simple human like him, along with the rest of the group, fight off someone that could easily kill them all in less then a minute...?  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Carlos was amazed at the way Ada, someone he barely knew just a few minutes ago, put up the fight of a lifetime against someone like Wesker. The way they fought was incredible and unbelievable at the same time. It was like something from a comic book or television, where the hero usually won by somehow tapping into unknown power or strength they never knew they had until just now.  
  
Yet, Ada had fallen in battle with Wesker, which had ended with her neck being snapped in front of all them, causing his comrade Leon to fall to his knees in anguish no doubt.  
  
It was odd that Wesker hadn't done anything else except stare intently at Ada's dead body, which was creeping Carlos out. He just wasn't use to dealing with humans who were more powerful than the Nemesis.  
  
'Poor lady,' Carlos thought grimly, 'she died bravely in battle against a demon...I bet Mikhail would think she would have made a fine soldier...'  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Dr. William Birkin examined Claire carefully, wondering if she was in the right state of mind to learn what had really happened.   
  
"Please Doctor...tell me what I did..." Claire asked quietly, not quite looking him directly into eyes in shame.  
  
He took off his glasses (which he didn't have in her nightmare) and rubbed his forehead, obviously unsure of whether to tell her or not. Claire needed to know, even if it was too late to do anything about it.  
  
"Are you sure you want to know Claire? It might bring back some repressed memory of what happened, and in your state of mind I don't think you could-"  
  
"Please." Claire said quietly.  
  
"Very well..." he replied, as he took out the police report, "Apparently you were taking a tour of the local police department here, and eyewitness reports state that after you had met Lt. Leon Kennedy and Lt. Ada Wong you snapped, took his gun from his holster, and shot them with near perfect accuracy. You then went on a rampage, wounding your brother's left arm severely, and then running around the halls, carrying a shotgun from the S.T.A.R.S. locker. Besides Jill, Rebecca, and Albert Wesker, you had killed Leon, Ada, Brad Vickers, Marvin Branagh, and Steve Burnside."  
  
As she took all this in she absently wondered what the expression on Steve's face would've been before she had shot him. Perhaps he would have had his hands up in mock surrender while saying that he was sorry for spilling coffee on her.  
  
"Do you know why you killed them?" Dr. William Birkin asked, as if she knew the answer.  
  
She tried to look into her still Swiss cheesed memory but could find no answer. "I'm sorry...I don't know..."  
  
"I see." he said sternly, before getting out a cell phone and dialing a number on it.  
  
"Dr. Ashford, would you come in here? I'm sure with your expertise in psychology you could get an answer...mmhmm...yes...yes...mmhmm....alright..." he mumbled into the cell phone, barely audible enough for Claire to hear.  
  
Claire lay her head against the side of her padded wall again, feeling slightly fatigued from all this new information. She really hoped that she wouldn't have to answer any more questions.  
  
"Well, Dr. Ashford is on her way to your cell now." he said quietly, as he turned to leave, "she came all the way from Paris, so I'd appreciate it if you would answer her questions."  
  
With that, the door was closed for the moment, leaving Claire in the dark once more.  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Hunk kept his gun trained on Alexia's head, making sure to keep steady as he started to speak.  
  
"Why did you decide to burn down Umbrella HQ?"  
  
The woman smiled at the mention of her horrendous deed. "They betrayed my trust, so I burned them all for it...well, except you. One mistake I shall soon correct."  
  
Hunk's heart skipped a beat. "That's it...you just burned down the company your family started just because of that..."  
  
"Is that all you wanted to ask me about?" she asked, apparently getting tired of the soldier.  
  
Hunk gazed wide-eyed at Alexia. Something about her enticed him to her, for reasons he yet could not understand.   
  
"Ooh, I see. You want to become my new servant, yes?" she remarked, looking at Hunk up and down, "A little scruffy, but I guess you'll have to do."  
  
Before Hunk could object Alexia's T-Veronica body started to emit a strange purple gas that quickly enveloped the soldier, causing him to fall on his to his sides, coughing violently. Within minutes his body stopped moving entirely, the purple gas still surrounding him eerily.  
  
With a cruel laugh, Alexia spun on her heels and hurried towards the elevator, the door closing behind her as it descended upwards toward the highest level.  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Steve suddenly tensed up, feeling that same sensation he had felt a few times earlier today.   
  
He could sense her...she was going to do something horrible. She was going to spread her evil to the whole city....  
  
What startled Steve even more was that he started to sense three other presences, each infected with the T-Veronica virus. He figured that Wesker was one of the three, but who were the other two...?  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Alexia felt her breath get taken away as she surveyed the entire city of Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower. Her body may have been that of someone in their mid-twenties, but her mind was still that of a child who craved power and thought they were royalty. She had never been this high up before, having been kept mostly in captivity and such.  
  
It was the most exhilarating feeling to be so high up...with everyone else looking like ants from where she was standing. She would have giggled with giddiness if it weren't for the fact that she had a job to do.  
  
Taking one last view of the city, she enveloped her body in fire again to harder her skin into its T-Veronica form. Just like with the soldier, her body started emitting a purple, pollen like cloud, slowly growing larger in mass, as it started spreading gloomily over the Eiffel Tower and onto the streets, towards the unsuspecting citizens...  
  
  
  
  
- End of Chapter Twenty-Four -  
  
  
  
  
As usual with everything I write, please rate and review!  
  
Did Hunk die pathetically, or is there a different purpose for him? Didn't Nosferatu also emit a cloud of purple smoke? And who are the two other T-Veronica virus individuals that Steve sensed?  
  
Next Chapter: Remorse. 


	25. Remorse, Revenge, Revelation

Author's Note:   
  
Thanks goes to (In Order of Appearance for all chapters so far): random echo, Claire Burnside267, a reader, diddly day, Zil, Tasha Burnside, Umbrella-Experiment, Parasite Lin, Biohazard 101, Cand, Queen Kristina, Apokruphos, Redfield 99, Yumi Konoe, Chandler01, Lyger, Chicky Tifa, D-2Artemis, Shin, Simon552, Jimbo Jones, claire3407, Squall Leonhart, Mayaku, President Evil, ashford2ashford, The Elvish Vampire Seira, Felicia, Mayumi-H, Mossberg, Serena, Dragonchan, Lily, Reazher, Wesker, iMac722, Diamond Angel, Rayne18, Joanne Beverly, Neromancer 13, Misterbuu, Bloodlover, Steel Soul, Kenneth Sullivan, Agent X, kolld steel, tek, and Silent Angel!  
  
Thanks goes to the reviewers of Chapter Twenty-Four: Joanne Beverly, TheOtherTJ, Serena (the closest thing to a muse), Biohazard 101, tek, The Elvish Vampire, Silent Angel, Diamond Angel, and Bloodlover!  
  
Been 8 months since I first started this thing...I just noticed that. Remember, the 'Miracle' Virus is the unofficial name I came up with for Wesker's super virus that revived him. From now I'll be referring to it as the M Virus, since it's shorter.  
  
On with yet another chapter...  
  
  
  
  
- Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You.... -  
- By Brian Marcelo -  
- brianmarcelo@hotmail.com -  
- Rated R for violence and language -  
  
  
  
  
- Remorse, Revenge, Revelation -  
- Chapter Twenty-Five -  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Agent Hunk's eyes suddenly fluttered opened as he screamed out in pain, his body feeling as thought everything was on fire. As he struggled to get up he realized he was beginning to change.  
  
He could still remember how it happened to William Birkin after he had injected himself with the G-Virus...it looked as if the guy was having a seizure or something...then the next thing Hunk knew William Birkin had changed into a horrible creature that attacked his whole squad with unbelievable ferocity.  
  
Hunk could only convulse violently as his body was being transformed into a living weapon....Alexia's weapon.  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Blood. He had just noticed that there was blood on his black-gloved hands.  
  
It was her blood, her backstabbing, whore blood...  
  
No, it was her blood, the blood of his friend...   
  
He noticed the texture was slightly dark as he watched it drip slowly off his leather black gloves and on to the pavement.  
  
Drip.   
  
Drip.   
  
Drip.  
  
With his heightened hearing he could her the drops fall, the beat getting faster.  
  
Drip.   
Drip.   
Drip.  
  
Wesker could only stare in disbelief as he brought his hands closer to his eyes, even though he possessed enhanced vision as well, thanks to the Miracle virus.  
  
It was all very surreal for him. It was shocking to have killed one of his only friends. It would've been traumatic if it wasn't for the fact that his enemies were only a few feet away from him, forcing him to not break down.  
  
Although he didn't show it, Ada was someone he considered a friend. He felt they were very much alike, with her betraying her ex-boyfriend John, who she dated only so that she could gain more information on Umbrella for HCF, while Wesker had betrayed his entire team so that he could sell Umbrella's secrets and combat data to HCF.  
  
They were similar, both of them being of the loner type, both of them always making sure to take advantage of a situation, as well as making sure that nothing got in their way.  
  
Ada had let herself fall in love, which subsequently got her killed by Wesker out of blind rage.  
  
The only other friend he had happened to be William Birkin, although he was deceased as well. He had been killed thanks to the efforts of Leon S. Kennedy, which had caused Wesker to feel an immediate hate for him, which was almost as strong as his hate for Chris.   
  
He could still remember working with William side-by-side all those years in the mansion, working on experiments such as Lisa Trevor (who later became the precursor to the Nemesis) and the effects of the T-Virus. William had later married Annette, one of their co-workers, who had given him a child a year later, which they had named Sherry.  
  
Wesker had not expected that he would be the godfather to Sherry, especially since he wasn't too fond of kids. William, however, thought Wesker was the perfect candidate.  
  
Sometime before the mansion incident had occurred, William had informed Wesker of his newly developed 'Miracle' virus, which was in essence, a pure form of the G-Virus he had somehow managed to create by accident. Both of them had decided to steal their research from Umbrella and sell it to the highest bidder, with Wesker going first so that he could help William later.   
  
William had decided to give Wesker the sample of the Miracle Virus, remembering how his friend used to talk about having true power, and how much he craved it.  
  
However, three months after Wesker had "died", William's laboratory was raided and he was shot down by a couple of the intruders. Injecting an unstable form of G-Virus into his own body, he had become a mindless, hulking beast that become stronger after each defeat, eventually being killed by Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield.  
  
William Birkin was dead now, unable to come back to life since he was completely incinerated in the explosion of the underground laboratory.  
  
Ada Wong was dead as well, unable to come back since the Miracle Virus wasn't able to revive those who had their neck and spinal cord shattered beyond repair.  
  
In a sense, he was dead as well. Just like his friends.  
  
Letting out an in anguished howl, which startled his enemies after the long yet tense silence, he ran off in the opposite direction with inhuman speed, after-images of himself appearing behind him as he quickly disappeared from their sight.  
  
  
  
  
***   
  
  
  
  
Soft. The soft, padded cell of hers was beginning to feel so comfortable for her. A nice, quiet place to sleep appealed to her. She liked lying her head on the soft ground, unable to do anything because of the strait jacket wrapped tightly around her.  
  
It was nice not having to do anything for a change. It was nice knowing that a zombie wouldn't appear out of nowhere and try to eat her, it was nice knowing that she wasn't being hunted by a pair of incest loving twins, but...  
  
It wasn't so nice that she had killed thirty-three people and that she had crippled her brother's arm.   
  
She took solace in the fact that she had no idea that she was doing what she did. If she had been aware, it would've been just like the dream...  
  
The dreams where she killed all those people in Raccoon City and on Rockfort Island. They were undead, no doubt about that, but she had never willingly shot anything that moved before. Halfway during Raccoon City her guilt became unbearable as she tried to reason with herself that they were already dead, and that if you don't them, you'll be dead too.  
  
It horrified her that during Rockfort she had gotten used to killing the dead, sometimes using a bit more force then required, other times completely freaking out on the undead monster and shooting it long after it had fallen, filled with dozens of smoking holes. One incident had her slashing repeatedly at a zombie with her combat knife until she realized that she had cut off the arms, legs, and the head all off, even though she knew all it took to stop them was to sever the head.  
  
It was sort of relieving, in a way, to know that the only time she had killed was when she was insane.   
  
After all, it wasn't technically her doing anything. No, not at all.  
  
She looked up as her door creaked open, light flooding the room as a young, blond, female doctor who looked like she was about Chris' age appeared before her, holding a clipboard in one hand and a pen in the other.  
  
Claire smiled as non-threateningly as possible; she wouldn't want to scare the nice doctor away, who looked just like how she did in her dreams.   
  
"Hello, Dr. Ashford. My name is Claire Redfield, but I bet you already knew that. How do you do?"  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Leon S. Kennedy quietly cradled Ada Wong's broken body, his watery eyes looking deeply into her own, trying to find any sort of life left in them.  
  
All he could see, however, was emptiness in them. No happiness or fear; just empty eyes looking out to the sky.  
  
It took him a long him to get over her death the first time, but going through it a second time was quite possibly even more painful for him.  
  
As much as he wished he could just stay and cradle his lost love, he still had a job to do. He couldn't do anything for Ada or Claire except capture their murderer and bring him to justice.  
  
With great reluctance he carefully lay her on the ground, making sure to cover her eyes as well.   
  
"Goodbye, Ada..." he said softly, trying his best to regain his composure as he walked back towards the group.  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
Mere miles away from where the S.T.A.R.S. stood chaos was erupting in the streets. A mysterious purple gas had descended upon the streets from out of nowhere, claiming every one who breathed it it's poisonous fumes.   
  
Cars were crashing and piling up upon each other, while others collided into the various shops, buildings, and bystanders. While some tried vainly to outrun the gas, others merely wept, not even bothering to get out of the way.  
  
It didn't matter either way though; no one escaped the Queen's wrath.  
  
As soon as the gas came, it was gone, leaving thousands dead on the city blocks surrounding the Eiffel Tower.  
  
The Queen smiled as she reabsorbed the fumes into her body, content in having her new army of peasants to do her bidding while she recovered from the massive use of energy to spread her seeds of evil.  
  
Her smile grew wider, remembering that a very special soldier would be joining her very soon.  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
  
"So, um...Dr. Ashford...what will we be talking about today...?" Claire asked, feeling slightly unnerved by the piercing stare coming from her doctor, who hadn't said a word since she had entered.  
  
"Hello Claire," she said smoothly, as she tilted her glasses slightly, "Do you remember me?"  
  
Claire shook her head in response, despite the fact that she had seen her before; she didn't want to look any crazier then she already was.  
  
"Mm...tell me Claire. Tell me what happened."  
  
"Where should I start--"  
  
"How about when you and your friend Steve nearly escaped my clutches?"  
  
"What? What are you-"  
  
Alexia merely smiled as she dismissed Claire's pleas with a wave of her hand. "If you don't tell me what I want to know, I could always go and tell Dr. Birkin how you've been a bad girl..."  
  
"No! Please...please don't do that...." Claire begged quietly, her voice on the verge of cracking into tearful sobs, "I'll tell you what you want to know, Dr. Ashford...please, just don't tell Dr. Birkin that...I don't wanna be crazy anymore..."  
  
"Then tell me what happened. Now."  
  
"I...my memory is really foggy...but I remember that in my dream me and a boy named Steve tried to escape from this zombie infested station in the Antarctic...but then we were stopped...."  
  
"By what?"  
  
"Tentacles...long, menacing tentacles that thrashed our little vehicle all over the place..."  
  
"Then what happened?"  
  
"I don't remember..."  
  
"Do not lie to me Claire. What happened after that?"  
  
"I...you...I mean...a dream version of you kidnapped me and Steve...but...I don't remember anything else..."  
  
To Claire's surprise, Dr. Ashford grinned widely. "It seems that everything is going just as I had planned."  
  
"I don't understand-"  
  
"Of course you wouldn't, my dear Claire..." remarked Dr. Ashford, as she walked closer to Claire, "after all, I'm the one who erased it all from your memory...until now..."  
  
"But...it was all just a dream...!"  
  
"Oh no, it wasn't. Not at all. In fact, what you are experiencing right now is all just an illusion in your head."  
  
"But I'm...dead..."  
  
"At the moment at least...but soon...soon you'll be hunting down all that you hold dear to your pathetic heart. Would you like to know how this is all possible, Claire? Or would it be to complicated for you to understand?"  
  
"So confused...."  
  
"I'll take that as a yes. Claire...think back to when you were fighting my feeble father...remember how he poisoned you right before you killed him?"  
  
Claire nodded slowly, remembering how hard she was breathing after the ordeal, as if her lungs were on fire.  
  
"Then, before you could escape with that pathetic excuse for a man, my brother released me and I captured you...then...do you remember what happened next...?"  
  
"Like I told you, I don't remember..."  
  
"Oh...but I do! I did many enjoyable things during that time...it was so grand to hear you scream every time I tortured you! Every time I touched you with my..."tools"....you would always beg and plead and cry for me to stop...! Mmm...Claire...do you remember...now...?"  
  
All of the sudden memories came flashing back to Claire...memories of whips and drills and surgical tools and screaming and pain and tears and Steve and horrible laughter....  
  
"Judging from the look of contorted pain on your face, I'm assuming it's starting to come back to you."  
  
Claire cried as she loudly yelled back at her captor. "You....you bitch....you crazy bitch...you did this to me..."  
  
"Ohh, my Claire...you have no idea how depraved I can be. You know, before your brother came to rescue his damsel in distress, I performed a bit of surgery on you and discovered your blood type was mixing rather well with the T-Veronica poison that my father infected you with...so...I decided to give myself a little insurance."  
  
"What the hell are you talking about, Alexia?"  
  
"I implanted a little bit of my mind and body into you...causing you to become powerful, just like me. I also created this whole dream state you are currently experiencing, which was designed to make you go insane with guilt over the things you had done...just for my personal amusement."  
  
"You crazy bitch...."  
  
"Anyways, you are a part of me. You should consider yourself very special, Claire Redfield...." Alexia whispered, as she reached close enough that they were face to face, "for you will be one of my personal harbingers of death to all who dare oppose me....which includes your brother Chris..."  
  
With that said, Claire suddenly started convulsing violently, blood pouring from her mouth as she struggled to restrain herself.  
  
"You know what my favorite part was, Claire?" hissed the blond woman, who was fading from Claire's view, "It was when I watched your brother give you the "antidote" for the T-Veronica gas....neither of you knew at the time that it would be the catalyst for all this...! Hahira....after all, did you really think I would make an antidote for something I wanted to spread everywhere....?"  
  
  
  
  
***  
  
  
  
Her pale skin started to become brown, signaling that her blood was once again flowing throughout her body...  
  
Her chest started to heave up and down slowly, indicating that her lungs were at the moment, filling up with air, and breathing in and out after such a long period of inactivity...  
  
She slowly started to stir, all the while starting to move her arms and legs with a strength she never felt before...  
  
Her eyes, which were eerily glowing red, opened slowly, squinting at the light, which was emanating from the ceiling...  
  
Claire Redfield was back...  
  
  
  
  
- End of Chapter Twenty-Five -  
  
  
  
  
The last scene is a homage to Steve's revival in Chapter Five.  
  
Claire's back...but not in the way you think she is....  
  
Stay tuned for Chapter Twenty-Six... 


	26. Reanimation

Author's Note: 

Thanks goes to (In Order of Appearance for all chapters so far): random echo, Claire Burnside267, a reader, diddly day, Zil, Tasha Burnside, Umbrella-Experiment, Parasite Lin, Biohazard 101, Cand, Queen Kristina, Apokruphos, Redfield 99, Yumi Konoe, Chandler01, Lyger, Chicky Tifa, D-2Artemis, Shin, Simon552, Jimbo Jones, claire3407, Squall Leonhart, Mayaku, President Evil, ashford2ashford, The Elvish Vampire Seira, Felicia, Mayumi-H, Mossberg, Serena, Dragonchan, Lily, Reazher, Wesker, iMac722, Diamond Angel, Rayne18, Joanne Beverly, Neromancer 13, Misterbuu, Bloodlover, Steel Soul, Kenneth Sullivan, Agent X, kolld steel, tek, Silent Angel, Lotus, upchuck, Midori iro, John Damen, asian-regilante, and Rock Solid!

Thanks goes to the reviewers of Chapter Twenty-Five: Lotus, tek, Claire Burnside267, Joanne Beverly, SteelSoul, upchuck, BioHazard 101, Midori iro, John Damen, Diamond Angel, Serena, Squall Leonhart, asian-regilante, Rock Solid, and random echo!

On with the next chapter...

- Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You -

- By Brian Marcelo -

- brianmarcelo@hotmail.com -

- Rated R for certain mature themes -

- Reanimation -

- Chapter Twenty-Six -

***

She rubbed her eyes in confusion, wondering why everything she saw was in a blood-red color.

What the hell had happened?

Where was she?

And why was it so damn cold?

She slowly got off the cold metal table that had been her bed and looked around for a mirror, absently noticing that the reason she it was so cold was because she was nude. 

As she picked up a hospital gown to cover herself she gasped as she saw her reflection in a mirror that she hadn't noticed before.

Her reflection looked so pale, and she had a huge gash on her abdomen that hadn't been there before. Moving closer to the mirror she noticed that the gash hadn't been cleaned; there was still blood, albeit dry, caking her ribs and stomach.

Then she saw it.

Her eyes...were different. Even though her vision was still shown in red she could tell that her eyes were not how they should be. She once had beautiful, blue eyes that sparkled no matter what the situation...

Now her eyes were lifeless, staring blankly at her with no emotion at all in them.

Just like all those zombies, no...people that she had killed during her time in Raccoon City and Rockfort Island.

She could still remember how empty their eyes had been before she pumped them full of lead, how they stared at her accusingly...

Without warning a torrent of memories started flooding into her head, one by one, piece by piece...

**Chris...**

**France...**

**S.T.A.R.S...**

**Leon...**

**Steve...**

**Wesker...**

**knife...**

**cut...**

**pain...**

**hospital...**

**Leon...**

**pain...**

**lights...**

**pain...**

**surgeons...**

**love...**

**pain...**

**cries...**

**pain...**

**Steve...**

**Raccoon City...**

**Mr. X...**

**Birkin...**

**Chris...**

**betrayal..**

**hate...**

**Chris...**

**Alexia...**

**memories...**

**torture...**

**pain...**

**screaming...**

**love...**

**Alexia...**

**then silence.**

Little did she realize that many of her memories were being twisted and rewritten as she stood there gazing at the mirror, dazed and confused...

***

_"Chris? Wake up Chris..." Claire quietly said, with a hint of urgency in her voice._

_"Wha..what is it..?" Chris said, yawning as he started to wake up._

_"We're almost there...." she said softly, glancing out the window as she did so._

_"Claire...? Is there something wrong...? We're just going to meet up with Jill and the others...you sound...sad though..." said Chris, a worried expression on his features._

_"No...nothing's wrong Chris...I'm just...a little tired...that's all..." she replied, as a small smile appeared on her lips._

_"Claire..." Chris said, staring at her, "Why are you lying to me?"_

_Claire let out a slight gasp, realizing that he was starting to sound...angry?_

_"I...I don't know what you mean-"_

_"You know damn well what I mean!" he replied back, as he grabbed her right hand roughly._

_"Chris, what are you doing-"_

_"Something I should've done a long time ago..." he replied coldly, as he gave her a swift punch to her stomach, causing her eyes to bulge out in pain._

_She whimpered as she tried to get her breathing back in place, finding it difficult with him still holding her hand roughly._

_"Now Claire, I want you to stop crying over that Steve guy. I didn't go halfway around the world to rescue a whining bitch, alright?" he said, his voice taking a stern, brotherly tone._

_            Chris hated her..._

_She looked up at her brother, shocked at how he was now, but complied with his request. "Okay, Chris..." _

_                        Chris hated her..._

_"That's better..." he said, as he released his grip on her hand and patted her on the head._

_                                    Chris hated her..._

_Claire turned away from him as she looked out to the window, tears forming in her eyes, wondering what happened to her kind, caring brother that had never hurt her before..._

_                                                **Chris hated *her*!**_

***

_Sighing heavily, she got out of bed, put on some decent clothes, and trying her best not to wake up her still sleeping brother, quietly crept out of her room..._

_Only to find that the hallway was empty. _

_Wasn't Leon supposed to open his door at the same time? _

_Leon was suppose to open his door in some big coincidence, slyly tell her that she looked nice, make her blush, flash his million-dollar smile at her, and offer to buy breakfast...and perhaps some French toast._

_But right now Claire was standing alone in the hallway, feeling more embarrassed with each passing second. _

_After feeling a rumble in her stomach she decided waking up Leon would result in them getting some breakfast together, and maybe spend some quality time on the side._

_As she was about to knock she heard a low groan followed by another, softer one, as if someone was in pain..._

_Could Leon be in trouble? _

_Did Umbrella find out where they were hiding, and harm him while they were all asleep? _

_Claire stopped her train of thought and let her instincts take over as she rammed the door in, preparing herself for an Umbrella soldier armed to the teeth, another nightmarish biomonster, or the possibility of being too late and seeing Leon half dead..._

_However, she did not expect to see Leon in bed with Rebecca Chambers crudely draped all over him, both of them looking back at her with perverse smiles on their faces, as if they had been expecting her._

_She quickly backed out of the room in shock, unsure of what she was suppose to react or feel._

_            Didn't Leon love her? _

_What was he doing?_

_                        Didn't Leon love her?_

_Why were they staring at her?_

_                                    Didn't Leon love her?_

_Claire had to place her back against a door as she slumped to the ground, a sharp pain suddenly growing in her chest..._

_                                                **Didn't Leon Love *her*...?**_

***

_"You monster..." Claire shouted loudly, her handgun trained on Wesker, "Give me back Steve!"_

_To her surprise, Wesker laughed darkly, yanking roughly on Steve's chain as he did so._

_"Why?"_

_Claire blinked; she did not expect to hear reply so simply. "Because you'll kill him!"_

_"So?"_

_"What do you mean by that?" she yelled back, growing angry with his replies, "He-"_

_"Hey Claire," Wesker said, sounding uncharacteristically chipper, "Didn't you already kill Steve before?"_

_There was a hush of silence as the words hit Claire like a ton of bricks. "I...wha-"_

_"Don't you remember, Claire? How you let him down? How you forced him to kill his own father, just to save you? How you let him get turned into a monster, while you managed to escape so that you could die another day?"_

_"I...I tried to save him..." she replied, her voice small and childlike, "we were both suppose to escape together..."_

_Wesker laughed at this with perverse glee as he yanked once more on Steve's chain. _

_"Did you notice that your precious Steve hasn't been speaking since you got here?"_

_Claire tilted her head as she gazed at Steve, realizing that he hadn't talked at all. Not even a single peep. _

_            Why wasn't he talking? _

_To her surprise Wesker released Steve and pushed him towards Claire. "Why don't you take a closer look?"_

_Claire managed to catch Steve as he was about fall, holding him firmly in her arms. "Steve...?"_

_Her expression turned to fear as she looked as his face. His eyes were glassy, staring off far into space, as if he could see something that she could not. His mouth was moving, but the words that were coming out were barely audible._

_            What did Wesker do to him?_

_"Speak up Steve...I can't hear you..." she whispered to him softly, her fear growing by the second._

_            What the hell did that bastard do to *him*?_

_"Stay...away..." Steve quietly mumbled, as he pushed Claire away and curled up into a ball, "stay away from me..."_

_"What...?"_

_"Don't kill me again..." Steve whispered, his voice mixed with fear and anger, "don't kill me again...!"_

_            Steve was blaming her..._

_Claire could only stare at Steve in disbelief as he continued his begging and pleading._

_                        Steve was blaming her..._

_"Don't kill me again!"_

_                                    Steve was blaming her..._

_"DON'T KILL ME AGAIN!"_

_                                                **Steve was blaming *her*!**_

***

She shuddered slightly, the familiar tightening of her chest coming back to her as she recalled those events from her memory. 

Chris...her own brother...had struck her during her weakest moment. He called her a weak, whining bitch...

It didn't make sense...her brother had been so kind and caring and loving and protective and everything a brother was and more. The most dependable person she knew was Chris, but if he could suddenly strike at her maliciously, then who could she possibly trust...?

Steve...he blamed her for his death. The way he was acting...it was as if she had killed him. She had wanted to scream that it wasn't her fault, that he should stop staring so accusingly at her. He had kept on yelling, begging her to not kill him, all the way up until Wesker had stabbed her.

To her horror a deranged smile had appeared on Steve's face as he whispered "thank yous" when Claire had fallen to the ground, right next to him.

There she was, lying on the floor bleeding while Steve was right beside her, repeatedly thanking her for dying.

And then there was what happened in Leon and Rebecca's room...

She clenched her crimson colored eyes shut in anger as she thought about Leon and Rebecca...

How they stared at her.

How they smiled at her.

How they were *laughing* at her.

Of course they'd laugh, since she was the one foolish enough to believe his lies.

No one loved her. 

Not Leon.

            Did she love him?

Not Steve.

            Or was it him that she loved?

Not even her brother, Chris.

            He was disappointed with her...he had brought her up to be stronger...

It didn't matter though; she never needed love before. If it weren't for Steve, she would never be in the predicament she was in now. She wouldn't be so weak as to depend on love to make everything better.

She wondered why she cared when Leon whispered that he loved her...was it because she loved him back?

Love, a friend told her once while in college, was all a bunch of lies and pain. At the time she thought her friend was simply sad over heartbreak, but now...

Perhaps she had lied to herself by believing that she loved him back, only so she could soothe her pain.

Yes...it must have been a lie, since Alexia was all she needed.

It was Alexia who captured her and Steve when they tried to escape.

            Even though she was just trying to go home...

It was Alexia who tortured her until she broke, breaking down all the barriers she had erected.

            The pain was too much for anyone to endure...

It was Alexia who made her perfect.

            As well as twisting everything she used to be...

She was stronger, faster, deadlier, and more powerful then she ever was before...

            She never wanted any of that; she just wanted to live...

Claire Redfield was the ultimate tool of revenge for Alexia against Chris...

            The brother who accidentally completed Claire's transformation into what she now was...

Claire smiled maliciously, still twitching from the effects of being revived so violently.

"Soon...they'll all be dead." she whispered softly, "I can't wait."

- End of Chapter Twenty-Six -

Sorry if the formatting is a little off, usually I only use txt as opposed to html but I needed to italicize Claire's memories so that no one would get confused.

Mmm, next I'll be writing an EVA one shot, featuring Shinji, Rei, lots of rain, and a box of milk chocolate cookies. *smile*

BTW, the italicized scenes are "reanimated" versions of previous chapters in this story. The first scene is from chapter one, the second scene is from chapter seven, and the third scene is from chapter thirteen. Just in case you didn't get it, Claire's memories are twisted because of Alexia, so no, Leon wasn't sleeping with Rebecca, etc.

In case some of you forgot, Claire has the T-Veronica virus because Alexia implanted her with it during their short time together in Antarctica. You didn't think that Alexia would simply glue her to the mansion with all that green stuff, did you?

I think this story is going to have about 20-25 chapters left to go. Scary, huh? In fact, I've already thought of a sequel to this story, since I have it all mapped out in my head. Time will tell, eh?

Once again, special thanks to Serena for being my beta reader. ^_^; She's a much better writer then me, I can assure you…o_o


	27. Author's Note

**Author's Note**:

No, I haven't given up on "Even Fond Memories Can Come Back To Haunt You…" I've just been so busy with high school that I haven't had much time for anything else. 

Anyways, I'm thinking of redoing chapters one through twenty-six. Now that I look back on them they sound…um…old. I'm thinking of combining small chapters together, heavily changing dialogue, and deleting some rather unnecessary scenes (example: chapter ten). However, I am planning on adding things from Resident Evil 0, as well as any information I can get from Resident Evil 4 that might prove easy to integrate into my story. I think I'll rename the story to the shorter "Memories".

Thanks to everyone still reading this story after a whole year. =D

- Brian


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